F1 2024: Charles Leclerc wins Italian Grand Prix – as it happened | Formula One

Here’s Charles Leclerc’s report from Monza.

The constructors’ championship is getting tight.

• 1. Red Bull – 446pts

• 2. McLaren – 438

• 3. Ferrari – 407

• 4. Mercedes – 292

• 5. Aston Martin – 74

• 6. RB – 34

• 7. Haas – 28

• 8. Alpine – 13

• 9. Williams – 6

• 10. Sauber – 0

That’s eight points Norris has gained on Verstappen, the gap is 62 now.

Oscar Piastri is disappointed: “It hurts. I’m not going to lie, it hurts a lot. I did a lot of things right today. There was a lot of question marks on the strategy going into the race.

“From the position we were in with the tyres looking like they did, doing a one stop seemed like a very risky call, and in the end it was right. Very, very happy with the pace, with the race that I managed to achieve. Just when you finish second it hurts.”

So is Lando Norris

“Oscar caught me by surprise as he got past. I don’t know what I could have done differently. If I brake a metre later, I probably would have crashed. It’s something we will look at but Ferrari drove a better race, particularly Charles.”

Charles Leclerc speaks: ““It is an incredible feeling. I thought the second time, if there was a second time, would not feel as special as the first, but the emotions over the last few laps were the same as 2019. I want to win Monza and Monaco every year and I have managed to do so. It is so, so special.”

The size of and noise from the crowd is bewildering. “I was surprised you survived,” Piastri tells Leclerc. Lando Norris says nothing at all. Difficult day for him.

• 1. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

• 2. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)

• 3. Lando Norris (McLaren)

• 4. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)

• 5. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

• 6. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

• 7. George Russell (Mercedes)

• 8. Sergio Perez (Red Bull)

• 9. Alex Albon (Williams)

• 10. Kevin Magnussen (Haas)

• 11. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)

• 12. Franco Colapinto (Williams)

• 13. Daniel Ricciardo (RB)

• 14. Esteban Ocon (Alpine)

• 15. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)

• 16. Valtteri Bottas (Sauber)

• 17. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas)

• 18. Zhou Guanyu (Sauber)

• 19. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)

• DNF. Yuki Tsunoda (RB)

The track is now filled with Ferrari tifosithe red colours filling the screen. The tyres that Sainz pulled up with with more pockmarks than the Moon’s surface.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” says Charles Leclerc. He doubted that strategy and the pitting strategy and yet he won. “This season is a heart attack,” he says. A Ferrari win at Monza is as good as it gets.

53/53 Leclerc and Ferrari’s plan has come off. Piastri has been outfoxed, and Leclerc takes the flag. Piastri is in second, Norris sets a fastest lap in third, and Sainz is fourth, with Hamilton holding Verstappen into sixth. “Monza mia, monza mia.”

52/53 Piastri is not quick enough. Leclerc is cool under pressure and leads into the final lap. The noise is deafeaning.

51/53 Piastri is seven seconds down on Leclerc and looking unlikely to catch the boy from Monte Carlo.

50/53 Russell is told Verstappen is within reach. Huge noise from the Ferrari fans.

49/53 Verstappen is worried about Russell taking points off him. Huge cheers from the Ferrari tifosi as Leclerc makes another lap with those tyres.

48/53 Norris goes ahead of Sainz, into third. Now both McLarens are chasing Leclerc.

47/53 Now Norris must chase past Sainz, but takes longer than Piastri did.

46/53 Verstappen has set a fastest lap as he chases Hamilton.

45/53 “My front right is nearly gone,” says Sainz. “But I will try.” But Piastri soon overtakes the Ferrari. He’s now 11.6 seconds behind Leclerc, who has older tyres than Sainz.

44/53 Ferrari’s is a high-risk strategy. Verstappen meanwhile desperately clambers for points in chasing Hamilton.

43/53 So it comes down to the speed of Piastri and Norris and the state of the tyres of Leclerc and Sainz.

42/53 Piastri and Norris are being asked to chase down the Ferraris, who want to stay clear. Verstappen pits, and come in behind Hamilton in sixth, with Russell behind him.

41/53 He eases past, and that takes him to fourth, Piastri ahead setting the fastest lap.

40/53 Verstappen and Norris go at it, and Verstappen puts up a worthy defence.

39/53 Piastri pits. Did someone’s foot get run over? Leclerc and Sainz are the leaders. They have only pitted once. Are the Ferraris going on a one-stop strategy,

38/53 Piastri is asked whether he can survive till the end. He says his front tyre is dead. Russell then overtakes Perez, and the two don’t offer too much in the way of leeway to each other.

37/53 “Impossible to defend,” says Verstappen of Norris, who is all over him, flying at him at serious pace. Norris has the fastest lap now, which appear to be the confine of the McLaren.

36/53 This has been one of the fastest races of all-time, and might be done in less than 75 minutes. Perez pits, so where will he comes out against George Russell? But only just, and that’s a battle for the rest of the race. What now for Verstappen?

35/53 Piastri is still the fastest lap, and he has 5.7 seconds on Leclerc.

34/53 Russell pits, cooling down the chase on Perez by being two seconds slow. He can cause real problems for the Red Bulls.

33/53 Norris pits, and takes his time. He comes in behind Verstappen. Piastri has the race to himself. Verstappen will have to come in. Norris has been unlucky, and his mechanic made a mess of his front right.

32/53 Russell and Perez had to swap places when Russell went off the track and came back in ahead. He handed it back. Perez is not happy but the Mercedes are after the Red Bulls.

31/53 Leclerc is getting closer to the McLarens, and now Russell and Perez go at it. Norris makes a mistake at turn four and Piastri is well clear. Ferrari’s main man is after Norris.

30/53 Franco Colapinto, the new kid, in 16th, speeds past Pierre Gasly. He’d never done more than eight laps before.

29/53 The second stops are fast approaching. Or are they? The calculations are being run.

28/53 Norris gets the fastest lap now.

27/53 Piastri is flying with a fastest lap, the Red Bull over a pitstop behind the McLarens. The constructors championship is very tight. It could be level as things stand.

26/53 The first three are now a distance ahead of Carlos Sainz, and we await the next run of pits. Not much racing has been done since that opening turn. It’s all strategy.

25/53 With Verstappen floundering a little do McLaren put Norris to the front? Papaya rules means they are allowed to race each other.

24/53 After Perez pits, he comes in just behind Verstappen, who wasn’t happy with his slow pit. Piastri is back at the front, with Norris second and that’s a race between two McLarens. Time to go for it?

23/53 Verstappen comes in, and goes on to hard tyres. That means he will be coming in again. He’s in eighth. “Papaya rules” are what McLaren are discussing. Coding, you see. Broadsword, calling Danny Boy.

22/53 Discussions over the radio between McLaren. Will Norris have to follow team orders? They had this problem earlier in the season.