Formula 1 returned to Italy once again for the Italian Grand Prix at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, to round out the European stint of races as the Championship heads into the final third of the 2024 season. 

Continuing on from Zandvoort last weekend, there were a host of announcements from various teams including Mercedes – who confirmed they had completed their 2025 line-up after signing Formula 2 PREMA Racing driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli after joining the Mercedes Junior Team in 2019.

Meanwhile, there was a change to the 2024 line-up confirmed post-Dutch Grand Prix with Williams Racing dropping Logan Sargeant, with the American being replaced for the remainder of the 2024 season by Argentine Williams Driver Academy racer Franco Colapinto.

Qualifying:

Lando Norris secured his second consecutive pole position, with blinding pace to lock-out the front row for the Italian Grand Prix alongside teammate Oscar Piastri with Mercedes’ George Russell rounding out the top three.

Norris’ flying time of 1:19.327 was enough for pole position although only a mere 0.109 seconds ahead of McLaren teammate Piastri. The top six drivers were separated by only 186 thousandths of a second, making it the closest qualifying session of the season so far.

The Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz finished in fourth and fifth place at the team’s home race in front of the roaring Tifosi, with Lewis Hamilton finishing sixth fastest for Mercedes.

Red Bull continued their string of weekends with struggles, after a lack of pace and a snap of oversteer on his first flying lap left Max Verstappen unable to qualify any better than P7 with teammate Sergio Perez following in P8.

Alex Albon and Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top-10 for Williams and Haas respectively.

Fernando Alonso narrowly missed out on Q3 by one hundredth of a second, with the Aston Martin racing finishing in P11. Daniel Ricciardo who has previously seen great success around the Monza Circuit – his last F1 win being here in 2021 for McLaren – also bowed out of qualifying in P12 for RB, alongside Haas’ Kevin Magnussen in P13.

The Alpine duo of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon finished in 14th and 15th respectively with both drivers eliminated before Q3.

Yuki Tsunoda found himself out of qualifying at the end of Q1, after fellow RB teammate Ricciardo improved his lap time in the final moments of Q1, placing 16th for the start of the race on Sunday, ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in P17. 

Franco Colapinto ended the session in 18th on his debut qualifying session, having a slight off around the circuit whilst getting to grips with the new machinery and ending the session in P18.

Kick Sauber had a disappointing day, with the pair of Valterri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu lacking pace and being set to start Sunday’s race in 19th and 20th respectively.

Race:

With a risk of rain predicted at around 40%, drivers were set to start the Grand Prix in hot and sunny conditions, with temperatures reaching more than 30 degrees Celsius. The track temperatures predicted mean there was an air of uncertainty surrounding the strategies the teams would be adopting, with Pirelli suggesting a one-stop would be quickest, although previous tyre degradation seen in sessions throughout the weekend meant two-stops were more likely for some.

With Zandvoort’s start from pole position proving tricky for McLaren’s Norris, the Briton seemed to make sure to not repeat the same scenario twice in a row, moving to cover Piastri off the line to keep the lead of the race going into Turn 1.

However, Russell failed to have the optimal start he would have wished for, locking up from third place going into Turn 1 whilst trying to avoid the rear of Piastri’s car, then being forced to take the escape road and dropped down the order as a result.

Heading into the second chicane, Piastri raced into the lead of the race ahead of Norris, with the Briton dropping down to P3 as Leclerc seized the opportunity to take second place on the road. Further behind, third-place started Russell – now in P7 – looked to have picked up some damage to the front wing endplate, although the Mercedes did not seem particularly bothered as it was seeming to have no obvious impact on his performance, despite Red Bull’s Sergio Perez airing his displeasure on the radio.

The Stewards were set for a busy 53 laps at the Italian Grand Prix, noting an incident at the start of the race between Ricciardo and Hulkenberg, with replays showing contact between the two with Hulkenberg being squeezed by the Australian. 

Hulkenberg was then noted himself for a second incident involving an RB, although this time with Tsunoda, with the pair making contact going into Turn 1. The German driver was then the first to pit for a new set of Hard tyres and a new front wing on Lap 6.

At the front of the race and onto Lap 8, Piastri was still leading by just under one second from Leclerc, with Norris in third around two seconds back from his teammate. Tsunoda continued his streak of bad luck at the Italian Grand Prix after having to retire from the race as a result of the damage caused to the car from the contact with Hulkenberg – in Tsunoda’s four appearances at the Italian Grand Prix he has a DNS in 2021, 14th in 2022, DNS in 2023 and now a DNF in 2024.

Ricciardo was handed a five-second time penalty for his role in the collision with Hulkenberg, which was to be served during his next trip to the pits, meanwhile the German was handed a 10-second penalty himself for causing the incident with Tsunoda.

Onto Lap 14, Piastri had managed to extend his lead to over three seconds ahead of Leclerc. Norris, whilst trying to close his respective gap to the Monegasque, had been called into the pits in an attempt to undercut and locked up heavily as he entered the pit lane in order to reduce his speed so as not to be penalised. After bolting on a set of Hard tyres he returned to the track in eighth place.

Leclerc responded with a stop of his own, rejoining the track behind Norris in P7, with Piastri following to pit from the lead on Lap 17, with the gap between the teammates now significantly reduced.

Ricciardo voiced his frustrations as he was informed that he had been handed a 10-second time penalty for failing to serve his original time penalty correctly – this occurred as in order to serve the time penalty correctly, the mechanics were required to not make contact with the car whilst Ricciardo sat stationary for five seconds, however in this case, instincts crept in and the mechanic on the front wing reached out to stabilise the wing therefore invalidated this stop as one to serve the penalty.

Back again to the front of the field, Sainz pitted from the lead of the race on Lap 20 – rejoining the track in P6, handing P1 and P2 to the Red Bull pair of Verstappen and Perez, although both drivers had yet to make a stop.

The Race Stewards were needed once again, for an incident involving a Haas, although this time it was for Magnussen, with the Danish driver and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly being noted. Magnussen had attempted to make a move down the inside of Gasly before locking up, resulting in contact between the pair.

Magnussen was later hit by a ten-second time penalty for causing a collision, whilst the Dane had already moved ahead of Bottas to take P12. Post-race it was confirmed that Magnussen had also received two penalty points alongside his ten-second time penalty, meaning he had exceeded the permitted number of penalty points in a year, with the rules dictating an automatic race ban – to be served at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku.

Lap 29 came with Piastri remaining in the lead with a 2.5 second advantage over teammate Norris, whilst home favourite Ferrari’s Leclerc and Sainz followed in third and fourth. Hamilton rounded out the top five at this point whilst seeming to struggle for pace in his Mercedes.

Norris suffered a lock up resulting in him losing time to the Ferrari of Leclerc behind, prompting the McLaren to make a second pit stop on Lap 33, albeit a slow stop before rejoining the track in sixth place. Piastri also made a second pit-stop, once again from the lead of the race on Lap 39, emerging ahead of Verstappen and Norris, handing the lead to Leclerc and Sainz in P1 and P2, with the Ferrari pair having not made a second stop. 

With 10 laps remaining, Leclerc had increased his advantage on the Monza Circuit to over 11 seconds on Sainz. The Spaniard wasn’t alone on the road however, with Piastri closing in on the Ferrari, whilst Norris was only a few seconds behind his teammate in P4.

Despite his attempts to defend on the ageing tyres, Sainz was passed in quick succession by Piastri for P2 on Lap 45, and then by Norris for third place.

With the laps passing quickly around the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, tensions increased for both the Ferrari team and the Tifosi as Piastri’s fast pace meant he began to cut away at Leclerc’s lead. However, it was too little too late as the chequered flag approached and Leclerc held on to take an incredible win in front of the fans – this race win came on the fifth anniversary of his first race win at the Belgian Grand Prix in 2019.

Piastri crossed the line only 2.6 seconds behind Leclerc, with Norris rounding out the podium a further three and a half seconds behind his teammate – taking the additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race.

Sainz finished in fourth place to add onto his birthday celebrations, ahead of Hamilton in fifth and Verstappen in sixth. Russell took seventh place, whilst Perez, Albon and Magnussen rounded out the top-10.

Alonso missed out securing any points for Aston Martin in P11, with Colapinto rounding out his debut weekend in Formula 1 with a P12 finish for Williams. Ricciardo finished in a strong 13th place despite his two earlier penalties, ahead of the Alpine duo of Ocon and Gasly in P14 and P15 respectively.

Bottas took 16th ahead of Hulkenberg in 17th, with Zhou and Stroll rounding out the race finishers in 18th and 19th respectively. Tsunoda remained the only driver to DNF from the race after retiring following the contact with Hulkenberg.