Ferrari’s upgrades bring hope at home

When the schedule for each new Formula 1 season is announced, the dates of the Italian Grand Prix are the first to be circled on the calendars at Maranello.

Ferrari may have lost a step on their rivals over recent months since Charles Leclerc’s magical moment in Monaco back in late May, but there have been reasons to be cheerful in recent rounds.

Back-to-back podiums in Spa and Zandvoort for Leclerc came against the run of play, given the team has arguably been the slowest out of the top four teams. But Monza marks an opportunity for Ferrari to transform their fortunes over the final leg of the championship as the team brings a major upgrades package 100 miles north-west of their factory this weekend.

The first impressions from Friday were encouraging. Carlos Sainz Jnr put in the third-fastest time of the day, just a tenth of a second off Lewis Hamilton’s best and Lando Norris – who virtually set identical best times – while Leclerc was fifth, just half a tenth off his team mate.

“It was quite a positive Friday,” said Leclerc. “However, there’s still some work to do as always.

“The feeling is quite nice. Everything we’ve brought to the car seems to be working, which is always a good thing. Now we just need to focus on the balance, because it’s been a tricky day, balance-wise. Performance wise it was pretty good.”

Ferrari beat the dominant Red Bull of Max Verstappen to pole position here last year, courtesy of Sainz. But despite being just a tenth off the top of the times, Ferrari’s outgoing driver could not be drawn into making any conclusions.

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“I think it’s very difficult to predict,” Sainz said. “I don’t have a clear picture who is fastest, who is quick in the long runs, short runs.

“It definitely seems like McLaren and Mercedes seem to be in a good spot. Ourselves, we have flashes of being very quick some times and others a bit slower. We were quick on the medium [compound] tyres, but then on the softs we were nothing special. Then on the mediums on the long run, we seemed to be struggling with graining. So I think it’s going to be interesting to see who manages to take the right conclusion out of today.”

This is not a typical Monza weekend, as F1’s oldest active circuit has received some major upgrades of its own in the form of new surfacing and revised kerbs. Not only are lap times more than a second faster than they were after the opening day of practice here last year, but teams are finding their tyres are wearing more than last year.

Verstappen announced to his team during his long run on mediums that his left-front was “done” after around 14 laps of running in second practice. Pirelli also observed notable graining on both the mediums and the softs through the session, which they put down to the high natural grip of the new surface combined with the lower aerodynamic loads in the corners due to teams prioritising high speed set-ups.

“It was a very challenging day, I think, for everyone out there,” Sainz offered after his day in the car.

“The layout is the same, but the track feels completely different to any other year with this ‘peaky’ new surface that makes the car a little bit on the edge in all the medium speed corners. The braking is very tricky into turn one. So even if the lap times are the same as other years, the kerbs and the Tarmac have changed a lot the situation. We find ourselves in a very new Monza.”

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Heading into qualifying, George Russell said Mercedes’ back-to-back tests of its two different specification floors suggest their new version introduced in Spa is the best option for the high speed Monza circuit. Whether or not it will allow them to challenge the McLarens for pole remains to be seen.

Hamilton appeared to have the superior top speed between him and Norris’ McLaren over their two best laps of the day, while Norris clearly gained time on the Mercedes through the Lesmos. Before sliding wide at the final corner on his best lap, Verstappen was also neck-and-neck with both Hamilton and Norris on his fastest lap on the soft tyres – a reminder that no one should count out Red Bull despite both cars being well outside of the top ten at the end of the second session.

“I think we have quite a few good directions to take with the car,” Verstappen said after the session. We just need to tidy it up a bit.

“I think it will be quite close, as you can see, with a lot of cars. Hopefully we can be in the mix.”

But with McLaren, Mercedes and potentially Verstappen each looking as if they will be fighting for pole on Saturday, there could still be an opportunity for Ferrari to sneak in and join the party.

“We are closer than where we were at Zandvoort,” Leclerc insisted.

“However, I still feel like the McLarens are strong and also the Mercedes are very strong. So we’ll have a lot of competition tomorrow, but we are more in the fight than in Zandvoort – and that’s a good thing for Saturday and hopefully on Sunday we’ll be strong too.”

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