The final laps of the last race delivered a twist in the drivers’ championship fight.
Now the teams head back to Italy for the season’s final race in Europe, where the McLaren drivers will continue their battle at the front of the field, rivals Ferrari will be keener than ever to end their win-less run.
But this weekend’s event could also witness the establishment of a new speed benchmark for the world championship.
Faster than ever?
The record for the all-time fastest ever lap seen in Formula 1 last fell five years ago at Monza. Now as F1 returns to the fastest track on the calendar for the last time under the current regulations, can the cars go faster still?
Lewis Hamilton set the current record with his pole-winning lap of 1’18.887 in 2020. That translates to an average speed of 264.362kph.
When F1 introduced its new technical regulations in 2022, lap times at Monza slowed at first. However Lando Norris got within half a second of Hamilton’s record time when he took pole position last year, lapping in 1’19.327.
Hamilton’s record therefore looks likely to fall even if lap times only improve by half as much as they did last year.
Italy expects
Out of the four teams which won races last year, only Ferrari hasn’t managed to this season. This is despite the team holding second in the constructors’ championship behind McLaren.
Their grip on the runner-up spot loosened at Zandvoort where they failed to score for the first time in over a year. Both drivers crashed out due to driver error: in Lewis Hamilton’s case the error was his, while Charles Leclerc was the victim of Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s mistake.
Any team wants to do well in its home race but Ferrari feels the weight of expectation especially strongly. Ferrari’s hopes of rebounding at home will be tempered by the knowledge Hamilton’s weekend is already compromised by his five-place grid penalty for speeding ahead of Sunday’s race.
Leclerc won last year by risking a single-stop strategy while the McLarens stopped twice. With the McLaren drivers preoccupied with their championship battle, he may have the chance to take the fight to them again. The tifosi can at least hope.
Antonelli’s second homecoming
Antonelli would be forgiven for having mixed feelings about racing at home for the second time this year – and not just because he took one of Italy’s beloved Ferraris out of the last race.
His season was going so well until his first home race in May. He arrived at Imola having scored points in five of his first six appearances. Since then he’s only troubled the scorers twice on nine occasions (though one of those was his breakthrough podium finish in Canada).
This was also the track where he made his first appearance in an official F1 session last year. That didn’t go smoothly either – he put George Russell’s car in a barrier at Parabolica on his sixth lap.
Antonelli has clearly demonstrated potential and despite his shortage of results Mercedes are keeping the faith in him. They may even use his home race as the scene of a confidence-boosting contract renewal. But the question remains when is he going to pull himself out of this rut?
Can Norris rebound immediately?
Norris’s retirement in the closing laps of Sunday’s race was a bitter blow for his championship hopes. It leaves him further behind team mate Oscar Piastri than he has been at any stage in the season so far.
His championship destiny is still in his hands for now. A swift response would help ease the blow of his Zandvoort setback.
This was a race he should have won 12 months ago. Norris took pole position and led at the start, but allowed Piastri to get by him which cost him a further position to Leclerc. He cannot afford to be anything like as generous this year.
Expect another fabulously close contest between the McLaren pair in qualifying. In the last four rounds the gap between them has been less than a tenth of a second on three occasions.
And then there was one
Since Imola’s return to the calendar in 2020, F1 has visited two Italian venues per year (with the exception of 2023, due to flooding). However the country which has held more grands prix than any other will return to hosting one round per year again from 2026.
While Imola is a superb venue which showcases the capabilities of modern F1 cars brilliantly, its narrow layout makes it poorly suited to F1 racing. Today’s large cars are better suited to Monza, whose high-speed character gives it unique appeal. If Italy must have only one grand prix, surely this is the best place for it?
Are you going to the Italian Grand Prix?
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