The sixteenth round of the calendar faithfully “photographs” the balance of forces of the current World Cup
MAX VERSTEP: VOTO… 11
Eleven like the seasonal victories of the now almost twice world champion. Eleven as a provocation, to speak of untouchability of SuperMax which now flies over this World Championship. He mixes with his colleagues only at the start of the GP: he starts seventh, is third at the end of the first lap, second in the fifth lap. Then the push and pull at a distance with Leclerc for the victory. The rest is history: the history of a World Cup well on its way to closing with a “Schumacherian” advance. Beyond the final modality, Monza “stamps” the Dutch champion’s encore, almost an anticipated coronation.
GEORGE RUSSELL: 8.5 VOTE
Never really fighting for the victory in Monza and not even for the second step of the podium. The third then gives him the Safety Car. Having unmarked the “shortcomings”, we come to the merits of George, Lord of Consistency: fifteen GPs out of sixteen in the top five (seven times on the podium), now within reach of Perez for third place in the Drivers’ World Championship. He only misses the first victory, which is slow in coming but in this case the justification … Hamilton signs it for him driving the other Mercedes, chasing his first success of the season and cannot boast his same score this year!
FIA, RACE DIRECTION, SAFETY CAR: WITHOUT VOTE
The Safety Car that goes into action with at least one minute delay on the necessary and becomes attached to Russell instead of going in search of the leader, the ride-on mower in reverse with the left wheels on the track and the single-seaters that parade on the track itself, but also the chaos-penalizations of the eve and a line-up that remained mysterious in its final appearance for hours after qualifying ended. All too serious stuff to make lightening matter, grades, report cards and – even worse – reviews. Which would be hasty at the very least.
CHARLES LECLERC: VOTE 7
The pole on Saturday was ten, the race lowers the average a bit. Charles on the track drives as he knows, as few others know. But … there is a but: the team asks him via radio to “ratify” the choice to anticipate the transition from red to yellow, in the sense of compounds (toh, the same color combination of the Ferrari adventure at Monza 2022). He confirms: What if he said: no, let’s go straight? Perhaps Sainz in his place would have been more decisive. Would the end result change? No particular clue suggests it and in any case Max had some in reserve there. While we’re at it, for the conspiracy corner: had been frozen (the GP) with Leclerc in commandwould we (more or less all) put it down so hard?
LEWIS HAMILTON: VOTO 6,5
As a consummate champion, at the start from the last row he leaves to others (Sainz, in this specific case) the task of paving the way and unraveling the skein in the middle of the group. Then he rolls up his sleeves (of the suit) and closes fifth, immediately behind Sainz himself who had just made the devil four already at the traffic light (“Go, go, see you later”). Except that the leading players are now basically othersstarting with his teammate) and steadily regaining center stage becomes a little more complicated grand prix after grand prix.
CARLOS SAINZ: VOTE 9.5
The initial comeback is a scream: he charges with his head down and after ten laps from eighteenth on the grid he is already in fifth. From “Despicable me” the overtaking on SERGIO “CROCEROSSA” PEREZ (in fact we don’t shoot: VOTE 6 also due to the fastest lap of the GP). The strategy is good, it is better than Leclerc’s (but above all different). He had nothing to lose and ran less empowered and freer of his head than Charles. However, we suspect that Carlos always is looser than the Monegasque and that this is one of his strengths. The podium was lost due to an Aston Martin (no, not those of Stroll or Vettel …) but the performance remains to be applauded.
LANDO NORRIS AND DANIEL RICCIARDO: VOTE 5
Mind you, the performance of the papaya duo on the track wasn’t too bad, given the recent trend. However, just a year ago Daniel & Lando in these parts landed an extraordinary double and took off in pairs from the second row. We all know how it turned out: the Australian triggered the “casus belli” for the final mess. His teammate from Bristol offered (we must repeat ourselves) a performance without high pitches.
NYCK DEVRIES: VOTE 7
Nobody drove three different cars this year: Williams, Mercedes, Aston Martin. At least two in the same weekend. Nyck is ready (God forbid!), The chaos-penalization of the grid gives him a fourth row all orange with Verstappen. Bring Williams back to the pits without a scratch and before Latifi’s (Obviously it does not increase by a fraction of a point, it wins two points at the debut, the only drawback of a dream weekend: it gets a reprimand for having nailed “in the face” to GUANYU ZHOU during the final neutralization. Speaking of which: VOTE 6.5 to the Chinese rookie (who obviously) closes the top ten by giving himself a rainbow dot e giving it to Alfa Romeo that – of course – has done (and won) something more in the hundred years of the National Autodrome. Touch to be satisfied!
SEBASTIAN VETTEL: VOTE 4
He does not go beyond the tenth lap in his last Monza performance, on the asphalt that saw him score his first victory in the World Championship in 2008 with Toro Rosso, to then repeat twice with Red Bull but fail the mission for six years consecutive with Ferrari. He wanders around the paddock with movements and attitudes halfway between the foreign body and the “runaway”. Final icing on an impalpable weekend, the unfortunate exit on President Mattarella. From his point of view, perhaps the only way to make his mark on his last Monza. You know what? We would have gladly done without it.
NATIONAL AUTODROMO OF MONZA: VOTE … 100
One might say: a hundred of these Grand Prix but, seen the epilogue, better not! An entire week of “Monza Fever” closed by a screaming finale that was strangled in the throat that the Centenary of the Autodromo Nazionale did not deserve. They remain the spectacle of a one-of-a-kind event, a context that is unparalleled, a magical place to the point of imagining the formula one darting over it aeven when it is not September, you can hear the sound echoing in the middle of the green. One almost wonders: the Autodrome was born first (capital A is not an error!) or the Park? Has the track been traced among the plants or has the forest grown to frame it?
