F1, Monza GP: the report cards of the promoted
1. Kimi Antonelli. Avoiding falling into the trap of the hateful national-popular rhetoric of Sunday lunch with mom’s ragù is a difficult, almost impossible task. I don’t even try and admit at customs that at least I can’t be objective. If they had told us this five years ago, we would have taken the glass from the interlocutor’s hands, with many thanks for the laughs and a warning not to drive even a tricycle for a week. Instead, it’s all true and we are all witnesses to something we will remember forever. A magical afternoon, fulfilling the dreams of every child approaching motorsport: winning the home GP by coming back from behind. Things you try on PlayStation, and maybe you don’t even succeed. But this boy is shifting the boundary between dream and reality. Sure, the new engine; sure, the VSC; sure, the Mercedes. Sure, but Russell also had a Mercedes, who however never gave that impression of omnipotence, neither at Monza nor at any other weekend. Babyface, you really did it big, huge, enormous. You put on some beautiful wings, and after the checkered flag you were singing ‘Volare’. So, what other troubles are you cooking up?
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2. Pierre Gasly. A memorable Saturday, child of the Mercedes engine and a perfect execution, which as its only downside revived those who on Friday were in mourning and talked about “political games” live on TV (the same who improvised as Commissaire Maigret desperately looking for a contact between Piastri and Leclerc). Gasly is a great driver, he scored 64 points in the last two championships making the desert crossing, with a car that was often among the three worst of the lot. He deserved this recognition, as well as a more prestigious seat.
3. Max Verstappen. A lion in a cage. Mercedes must impose a truce on Russell and Antonelli to shake him off, then rear problems put him at the mercy of a McLaren much more anonymous compared to recent outings. Too little to knock Super Max off his fifth podium in 13 GPs. Which, driving the fourth car on the grid, doesn’t seem bad to me.
F1, Monza GP: the report cards of the failed
3. Lance Stroll. Yes, Antonelli 60 years after Scarfiotti. Yes, the comeback. Yes, Monza. But the real story is written by a boy who has an immense desire to race, equal to the one I would have to go to the proctologist, who races not to satisfy his dad but his ambitions: 100 eliminations in Q1 (in 206 qualifying sessions!) for Lance Stroll. Ladies and gentlemen, a giant of our time.
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2. George Russell. Defeated by an Alpine in qualifying, defeated by the teammate who for two days gave you the slipstream and in the race started from Lissone. It’s a weekend that goes beyond the -66 from Antonelli: it’s a beating that looks like a sentence. Kimi won at Suzuka, Spa, Monza, Monte-Carlo, and would probably have won also at Silverstone if Mercedes hadn’t betrayed him. The story of this World Championship, for now, bears the signature of the Bolognese, while Russell alternates small tasks and melancholy. Of course, there are still about ten races. But the face he had yesterday is that of someone who already knows how the movie ends. And he doesn’t like it.
1. Charles Leclerc and Frederic Vasseur. While all of Monza sings Nel blu, dipinto di blu and Sarà perché ti amo, in the Ferrari box another great classic resounds: Parole parole. Words, yes, like those spoken in an hour-long call between Vasseur, Leclerc and Hamilton to avoid a repeat of a Zandvoort case. An hour-long call, as in Call of Duty? Were they doing a fantasy football auction? Certainly, I feel I can exclude that they talked about the track, given how it went at Monza. Words, rather proclamations, like those pronounced by Leclerc on Wednesday in Piazza Duomo in Milan: “We will do everything for a one-two“. Everything beautiful, then unfortunately the lights went out and the race started. In the all-Italian party, Ferrari is exactly missing, which immediately leaves, with Leclerc first pushing Hamilton into the gravel and then crashing at Alboreto. Two laps that ruin two races, even if in any case Ferrari would hardly have gone to the podium. Two mistakes that go far beyond the problems of a Leclerc who this year has struggled and suffered the comparison with the Sir. Two serious episodes, which certainly put the Monegasque on the defendant’s bench, but also those above him. Because, I repeat, it all starts from a chain of command that does not command. Or, if Vasseur commands, the drivers don’t listen to him. A short circuit that must be resolved in a Ferrari that yesterday lost everything: GP, but above all face and fans.
