50 grands prix wins for Italian drivers in the F1 world championship 🏁🇮🇹
Kimi Antonelli’s 7th career grand prix win sees him move up to be the Italian driver with second most wins in F1 history.
It won’t be long before he surpasses Alberto Ascari’s total of 13 the way things are going...
- Motor Sport Magazine
Red Bull has reacted to the reinstatement of Isack Hadjar's Monaco podium.
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| © XPBimages |
Red Bull has issued a statement following the reinstatement of Isack Hadjar’s Monaco Grand Prix podium after the FIA International Court of Appeal’s (ICA) verdict.
It was announced early Friday morning in Monza, ahead of this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix, that Red Bull’s and McLaren’s protest against the results of the Monaco GP had been upheld, with Pierre Gasly’s two five-second time penalties reinstated after initially being rescinded following an earlier Right of Review by Alpine.
It demoted Gasly back to seventh, with Hadjar returning to third, ahead of Oscar Piastri, Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad.
Following the conclusion of the opening day in Monza, Red Bull released a statement expressing its delight at the ICA’s decision.
"It is, first and foremost, the right outcome for the integrity of the sport and the principles of sporting fairness. Motorsport is at its best when outcomes are decided on the track, which is what fans, teams and competitors all want to see.
"Everyone at Oracle Red Bull Racing is thrilled that Isack's outstanding performance in Monaco has now been reinstated, securing his first podium finish with the team."
- Nick Golding
The four-time champion will return to the Formula 1 track this weekend in Ferrari colours.
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| Vettel in conversation with Ferrari drivers Hamilton and Leclerc |
Sebastian Vettel is set to return to the track this weekend as Ferrari celebrates Michael Schumacher's legacy at the Italian Grand Prix.
Four-time champion Vettel has taken to the track in historic machinery on a number of occasions since retiring from Formula 1, most notably driving Nigel Mansell's 1992 Williams at Silverstone and Ayrton Senna's 1993 McLaren at the 2024 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
He will add to this experience on Sunday ahead of the 53-lap Monza race, when he gets behind the wheel of seven-time champion Schumacher's dominant Ferrari F2002.
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| The F2002 is one of Ferrari's most iconic F1 cars |
Across that season, the legendary German finished outside the top two just once, a third-place result in Malaysia, and scored 11 wins from 17 races. Of the races not won by Schumacher, four were scored by team-mate Rubens Barrichello, with Williams and McLaren each achieving success once.
Schumacher's lasting impact on F1 is being honoured at Monza this weekend, with Ferrari revealing special race suits late last week, and a special livery based on the 1996 Ferrari that 91-time grands prix winner took to victory on Ferrari's home soil.
Vettel, who has always held Schumacher up as his idol, will complete a single lap in the 900bhp Ferrari V10, which is capable of screaming to 19,000rpm.
On his previous demonstration laps, Vettel has used sustainable fuels, and this will be no different. The demonstration will be run via Ferrari's F1 Clienti department, and the manufacturer has confirmed the F2002 will use an “advanced sustainable fuel developed specifically by Shell, drawing on the know-how acquired this season to create the fuel being used in 2026.”
Fans only attending on Saturday will also get a chance to hear the now 24-year-old car scream through the park, with Barrichello getting reacquainted with the F2002 ahead of qualifying.
As well as the 2002 car, Schumacher's first and last Ferrari F1 cars will be on display - these are the 1996 F310 and the 2006 248.
- Sam Hall
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| Bernie Ecclestone and Martin Brundle have different opinions on McLaren's team orders |
McLaren’s decision to use team orders at Monza was the “right thing” according to Martin Brundle, but Bernie Ecclestone says it sounds like the team “prefers a World Champion named Lando Norris”.
It has highlighted the divide in opinion, both inside and outside the Formula 1 paddock, in the wake of Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix.
McLaren courted controversy at the Italian Grand Prix when the team ordered Oscar Piastri to give second place to Lando Norris after he lost it through a slow pit stop.
Running second and third behind Max Verstappen, Piastri was given the go-ahead to pit first after McLaren assured Norris, who was ahead of his teammate on the track and would therefore usually have priority, that he would not be undercut.
However, a 5.9s pit stop for the Briton meant he was.
Norris was stationary four seconds longer than his teammate, which meant he came out behind Piastri on the track with the Australian then told to cede the position.
“We pitted in this order for team reasons. Please let Lando past and then you are free to race,” said his race engineer Tom Stallard.
The championship leader briefly tried to make his case, arguing: “I mean, we said that a slow pit stop was part of racing, so I don’t really get what’s changed here.”
However, once he got the second request, he moved over for Norris, who went on to finish the race in second place, two seconds ahead of Piastri.
The call, though, irked not only Piastri’s fans and sections of the international media, but also paddock personalities with former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone crying foul.
“They talk about fairness all the time,” he complained to Blick, “But is it fair for Piastri if he is punished for a mistake made by the team? No.”
He went on to accuse the Woking team of favouring Norris in the championship fight.
“You slowly get the feeling that McLaren prefers a World Champion named Lando Norris,” continued the 94-year-old. “Mistakes such as missed pit stops or engine damage as well as suspension breaks have become rarer, but they are part of the sport.”
McLaren, though, has insisted it was a case of “principles” and “racing values”, team principal Andrea Stella saying: “We thought it was absolutely the right thing to go back to the situation, pre-existing at the pit stop, and then let the guys race.”
Former F1 driver turned commentator Brundle agrees that it was the only fair call to make given Norris wasn’t at fault for his slow pit stop.
“I believe that was the right thing to do all round, as happened in reverse in Hungary last year,” he wrote in his post-Monza column for Sky F1.
“If Norris had, for example, run long in his stop and scattered his mechanics, or it had simply been a slow stop, then that’s the way the cookie crumbles. But there were a number of aspects to this scenario including prior discussions and agreements.
“The cohesion of this team is what’s making it so dominant this season and both drivers are smart enough to realise that for both now and into the future.
“Don’t judge either of them for playing the team game, all the other teams on the grid would kill to have two great drivers working in tandem for the good of the team like this, while also racing the wheels off the cars and doing their best to beat each other.
“At least Piastri did gain the advantage of now being in Norris’ DRS rear wing open range, but Norris continued to have the pace.”
One person who knows all about intra-team championship battles and team orders is Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff.
Sitting on the fence in a situation where he says there is “no right and there is no wrong”, the Austrian warned McLaren that a dangerous precedent had been set.
Speaking with PlanetF1.com and other publications at Monza,” he said: “You set a precedent that is very difficult to undo. What if the team does another mistake and it’s not a pit stop, do you switch them around?
“But then equally, because of a team mistake, making a driver that is trying to catch up lose the points is not fair either.
“So I think we are going to get our response of whether that was right today towards the end of the season when it heats up.”
Piastri continues to lead the Drivers’ standings with Norris taking three points off his teammate in Italy to close the gap to 31 points.
- Michelle Foster
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| Lando Norris was booed by fans on the podium after the Italian GP |
Lando Norris reacted to the audible boos aimed in his direction when taking to the podium after the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix.
The Briton finished a distant second behind race winner Max Verstappen at Monza, ahead of his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri.
Norris fell into third late on behind Piastri after a botched pitstop, with the Australian having pitted the lap before as part of a team strategy.
Due to the nature of Norris’ stop, Piastri was instructed to hand the place back to Norris, ensuring he would finish second, a position he held for virtually the whole race.
The Italian fans seemed to take umbrage with the tactic and began to boo when Norris walked onto the rostrum, as they assembled in their traditional post-race track invasion beneath it.
After the race, Norris was asked for his reaction to the negative reception he received. He conveyed a sense of confusion, but added he heard plenty of cheering to counteract it.
“I don’t know why. I heard them,” he told media including Motorsport Week. “I hear the cheers louder than the boos, and that’s the most important.”
Verstappen, conversely, received a hero’s reception as he stood upon the top step, with many serenading him with the ’33 Max Verstappen’ song by Carte Blanq and Maxx Power.
When asked how he felt about the tifosi’s wholly positive response to his victory, the Dutchman appeared to be in awe of the spectacle.
“I think already in Imola it was pretty similar. It’s just nice to see that support,” Verstappen added.
“Of course, most of them are here to support Ferrari – unfortunately they were not on the podium.
“But to see that crowd was incredible. Honestly, it’s probably the best podium in the season in terms of what you see and how big the crowd is.
“They were very joyful, I would say, just having a good time, and it was nice to be part of it.”
- Jack Oliver Smith
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| XPBimages |
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has delivered a clear statement on why a controversial call was made late in the Italian Grand Prix to swap drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri which was to the detriment of the Australian.
Running second and third behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen, as the lead car, Norris gave up priority at the pit stop phase to Piastri after both had run deep into the race on Pirelli's hard tyres before switching to softs.
Piastri's stop of 1.91s was the fastest for any team this year. Following a lap later, an issue with the front left meant Norris was turned around in just under six seconds, costing him the lead.
Slow pit stops are part of racing, yet Piastri was informed to cede position to Norris, and beyond that, race to the chequered flag.
It was a call Piastri questioned over the radio initially by stating, "We said that a slow pit stop was part of racing. I don’t really get what’s changed here", before adding that he would comply.
Speaking to the media and asked by RacingNews365 whether the decision taken was the right one, even if Piastri should lose the title by six points or less to Norris, the swing between finishing second and third at Monza, Stella delivered a stoic response.
"The pit stop situation is not only a matter of fairness, it's a matter of consistency with our principles," he said.
"And however the championship goes, what's important is that it runs within the principles and the racing values that we have, and that we have created together with our drivers.
"The situation whereby we stopped the drivers is not only related to the pit stop, it's also related to the fact that we wanted to sequence the pit stop of the two cars by stopping Oscar first and then Lando.
"And we had the clear intent that these should not have led to a swap of position. It was just done because we were covering [Charles] Leclerc.
"This is what we did, and this is what we think is in compliance with our principles."
Aside from Norris ceding pit stop preference to Piastri, Stella claimed that a reason for bringing in Piastri was to cover off Leclerc, although he was almost 29 seconds adrift by the time of the stop.
The pit-stop time loss at Monza was 25 seconds, and although Leclerc was closing at half a second per lap on Piastri at the time, McLaren still had plenty in hand.
Further explaining the rationale and the target McLaren had in mind, Stella said: "Obviously, stopping to cover Leclerc [when he stopped several laps earlier] would have been the simple solution to how the race would have unfolded, but it would have limited the result.
"We wanted to find a way today to pursue a bigger result, like in the case of a red flag that would have been quite strong with the two McLarens leading, and even in terms of a safety car, up until a certain point, it would have been strong.
"Also, we wanted to stop late enough to go on softs, because had there then been a late safety car, we would have been on soft with Verstappen on hard.
"So there were incentives, from a racing point of view and from an overall result point of view, at the end of the race to stay out.
"We stayed out up until the point where we needed to sequence the pit stop differently compared to the order in which our two drivers were."
- Ian Parkes
55 years ago at the Italian GP of 1970 the fearless and popular driver Gianclaudio “Clay” Regazzoni scored his first F1 victory, driving for Ferrari.
It was a bitter victory though, as one day before, in qualifying, the Austrian driver Jochen Rindt died in an accident - he will be declared posthumous world champion, the only time it has ever happened in the history of Formula 1.
