Welcome to the Italian Grand Prix – 2024
Hamilton hopes title battle “goes down to the wire”
Lewis Hamilton hopes the title battle “goes down to the wire” but says Lando Norris will need “some fortune” to chase down Max Verstappen. In Zandvoort Norris reduced the Dutchman’s lead to seventy points, just under three wins, as Verstappen’s winless streak was extended to five races.
The dominant nature of Norris’ win in Zandvoort with his upgraded MCL38 has established McLaren as the car to beat going into the final nine races of the season, starting with this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix. Hamilton who partly lost the title in 2021 to Verstappen because of his strong second half says it is not impossible for Norris to do the same.
He said, “I think ultimately Max probably only needs to finish second every race to win, at this point. And he [Norris] would have to win every single race, and still, that wouldn’t be enough. There’ll need to be some fortune in it. I hope that it goes down to the wire because that will be great for the fans. With the performance they showed last weekend, maybe they could.”
While doubt remains over how much pressure Norris can apply to Verstappen, McLaren is already within striking range of Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship. McLaren could in theory take the lead if they outscore Red Bull by thirty points this weekend.
They have not won the constructors since 1998, though they would have won in 2007 if they were disqualified over the ‘Spygate’ scandal.
Hamilton, who has won two races this season for Mercedes, added: “I do think, and what’s really exciting, I think there’s a real chance that McLaren could win the constructors’ title. That’s really, really exciting because obviously, there when we did win the last constructors’.”
Norris meanwhile refuses to engage in talk of a title battle, insisting he will continue to take a race-by-race approach until the end of the season. Going into this weekend he isn’t expecting a dominance like Zandvoort.
Norris said: “If you kind of compare it [Monza] a little bit more to Spa probably, I think we were still pretty good there. Obviously, Red Bull was very quick there, but Red Bull has always been very good at Spa, specifically.”
“Here it’s a bit of a question mark. It was probably one of our worst races last year, mainly because I just sat behind Alex [Albon] the whole race, but it was genuinely one of our trickier races that we did last year.”
Wolff on Hamilton era, Verstappen and Antonelli
Mercedes CEO and team principal Toto Wolff says he has an “open communication channel” with Max Verstappen regarding a potential future with the team. In a long-form interview with BBC News, Wolff says there were talks this year with Verstappen and his management about a move for next season.
Wolff has abandoned hopes of signing the Red Bull driver for next season, and Mercedes are expected to confirm soon that Italian Andrea Kimi Antonelli will race next season alongside George Russell.
The reason the talks which he admits was a long shot were made possible because of the allegations of sexual harassment and coercive, controlling behaviour made against team principal Christian Horner by a female employee. Wolff says, “Red Bull was the dominant car at the beginning of the season, and that changed a bit. It’s Max Verstappen dominant at the moment.”
“And the relationships were dysfunctional. I’m not sure they are back in a great place, but it is what it is. There was a moment, or there was an opportunity, to at least have conversations of what it could be in the future, and this is what we did.”
These talks took place despite the fact Verstappen is under contract at Red Bull until the end of 2028. Horner always denied the allegations and has been cleared by two internal Red Bull investigations which dismissed the complaint against him.
Verstappen on his part said last weekend “he “gets on very well with Toto – he’s very open about what’s happening within his team.” And the three-time world champion said there was “nothing wrong” with Wolff discussing publicly his interest in him.
While not ruling out further talks about a future drive, it means that it is widely expected that the team will promote Kimi Antonelli from F2, the Italian makes his practice debut on Friday. Wolff would not confirm that Antonelli has the 2025 seat in our interview, but it’s very clear that is the direction of travel.
Asked why he would not wait, give Antonelli more time in F2, or find him a seat in a less high-profile F1 team, as he did with Russell for three years at Williams, Wolff says: “Without pre-empting too much about next year’s drivers, in a way, when such talent comes up, it’s not right either to park someone or place someone with another team. With George, it was probably a year too long with Williams. But then also we didn’t really have any space before.”
However, while the Italian is seen as the next big thing and Wolff thinks he is well prepared, warned they wouldn’t put him in until he is ready and they were not expecting him to out-perform Russell straight away.
Its believed that Hamilton’s one plus-one deal which was signed last year, only for Hamilton to leave for Ferrari at the end of the season was triggered by the seven-time champion wanting s long-term deal.
Does Wolff have any regrets about the decisions that led to Hamilton leaving? “No. We decided as a team for that and we were always very transparent with Lewis and the good thing with him is he is able to put himself in your position and understood where we were coming from.”
However, Wolff appeared to suggest he did want Hamilton to write the wrong of Abu Dhabi 2021, when race director Michael Masi failed to implement the rules correctly during a late safety-car period.
Under pressure from Red Bull – and a desire for the race not to finish under a safety car – Masi made a series of decisions that bypassed the rules and led directly to Verstappen passing Hamilton on the final lap of the race to win the championship. But accepts while it wasn’t fair, they can’t turn back time and there are worse things than losing a race or a World Championship.
McLaren needs further upgrades
McLaren says they need to bring further upgrades this season, so it isn’t beaten by Red Bull at some circuits. Lando Norris’s win over his title rival Max Verstappen suggests the team could hold an advantage as the fight for the championship, as it gets more intense.
But while some tracks coming up on the schedule – like Baku and Singapore – will likely be a big challenge for Red Bull, McLaren thinks that, based on the current performance characteristics of its MCL38 and the RB20, there are other more aero-demanding venues like Austin and Qatar where its rival could hold the edge.
Team principal Andreas Stella told Motorsport.com “I think if we go to tracks [like Zandvoort], then we can, I think, be confident that we will perform strongly, with high-downforce long corners. If we go to tracks where you have very high-speed corners, like in Silverstone, then we know Red Bull are very strong in this kind of layout.”
Stella believes that to fight Red Bull at circuits where they are stronger the team needs to bring upgrades in areas where it is weaker than its rivals. He says Spa was a missed opportunity as they could have seen who was the fastest and prove their thinking they aren’t fast enough in terms of the performance required to be the best car at every single event.
‘Not a good approach’ to prioritise Norris
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella says it “would not be a good approach” for McLaren to prioritise Lando Norris as the number one driver despite the Briton battling Max Verstappen for the world championship title. Last weekend, Norris cut Verstappen’s lead to seventy points as the Red Bull driver has been winless for the last five races.
Stella, speaking on Thursday, before the event in Zandvoort, insists Norris and team-mate Oscar Piastri will be treated equally for now.
Piastri – fourth in the championship, 46 points behind Norris – claimed his first GP victory in Hungary in July when McLaren insisted he take the win ahead of Norris, who initially ignored team orders to hand first place back to Piastri before eventually cooperating.
McLaren chief executive Zak Brown said afterwards that deciding whether to install a No 1 driver was ultimately up to Stella, but the Italian told reporters last week: “I think when it comes to these conversations about being the No 1, I don’t think that’s a good way of approaching racing. We’d rather approach racing from fairness, integrity, and then see what come from this kind of approach.”
But Brown also said for Norris to close the gap the Englishman needs to continue to perform at a high level and keep being fast, as well as being competitive. Saying that any decision on favouring Norris would be made before the race, and he would favour it on a case by case basis when it comes to team orders.
Piastri, also speaking before the Dutch Grand Prix, said he was not expecting to be asked to aid Norris’ title pursuit, saying: “No, I don’t think so. The first target is to win the Constructors’ Championship. I think naturally, if we’re closing the gap in the constructors’, there’s probably a good chance that we’re both closing it in the Drivers’ [Championship] as well.”
Safety car crashes in system checks
F1’s safety car test came to a surprising early end on Thursday at the Italian Grand Prix after a hefty shunt into the barriers. As part of the regular preparation ahead of an F1 weekend, safety car driver Bernd Maylander completes multiple systems checks and fast laps to ensure everything is ready for the weekend.
But during one of his quick laps, he appeared to lose control of the Aston Martin safety car being used this weekend at the Parabolica corner. The Vantage F1 Edition ran across the asphalt run-off area and then skipped across the gravel trap before plunging into the tyre barriers on the outside of the track.
Talking Points Monza
Following Lando Norris’s near twenty-three-second win on Sunday in Zandvoort F1 heads to Monza known as The Temple of Speed for round sixteen of the season. Ahead of this weekend, Max Verstappen leads the championship by seventy points from Lando Norris and Red Bull a thirty-point lead over McLaren in the constructors.
After seeing his consecutive run of victories at his home event come to an end, Verstappen commented post-race: “We’re not quick enough”. However, he still has that healthy lead in the driver, but Red Bull will again face a challenge from McLaren this weekend.
Naturally, Ferrari wants a strong result here they hold the record for wins with twenty, though Imola is nearer to Maranello. Last weekend Ferrari were surprised by their solid performance in Zandvoort, they will be running upgrades on the SF-24. Can they take further strides in front of the adoring Tifosi?
Mercedes, meanwhile, was left confused by what Team Principal Toto Wolff labelled as a “totally off” weekend at the Dutch Grand Prix, marking quite a contrast from their successful run prior to the summer break. The goal post-Zandvoort was to analyse the data and come back stronger at Monza. F2 driver Kimi Antonelli will also make his debut with the team during FP1, so it will be fascinating to see if the Silver Arrows can achieve this target.
Monza is one of a kind on the calendar, yet in many ways is the simplest track but also toughest for the cars. It’s low downforce and high speed, resulting in some of the fastest lap times of the season and the fastest race, without safety cars, with it often lasting around seventy-five minutes. This circuit long straights often sees some of the highest top speeds of the season.
But that comes with risks, brakes suffer here because of the high speeds and slow chicanes being a hundred year old circuit there are natural bumps, gravel and grass which can lead to accidents. Its also a good place for overtaking, its not as risky the final corner, Parabolica, as there is more tarmac between the track and gravel.
Colapinto “always ready” to step up into F1
Franco Colapinto “always ready” to step up into F1 to make the step up. The Argentine was announced on Tuesday as making the step from F2 to F1, having made his FP1 debut at Silverstone where he was four tenths behind Alex Albon.
He believes his performances in that session put him into the reckoning for the opportunity to replace Sargeant at the team for the rest of the year. Colapinto said, “On Monday I was in the Formula 2 sim, with MP, preparing the race with my team for Formula 2, here in Monza. So, you can imagine how late it was. I don’t know when they were thinking about it, but it’s an opportunity that I’ve been always ready for, and that I’ve been waiting for so long.”
“I was not expecting it, to be honest. I cannot explain you how happy I am to be here with Williams. They have been very supportive and the opportunity that they have given to me is insane.” He says he has been ready for a while and that performance put him in the teams mind for a race seat.
Asked if it was difficult that the drive was only for nine races, with no chance of a 2025 seat at the team as Carlos Sainz joins Williams next year, Colapinto retorted that it was a very easy choice.
He added, “I was fully focused on my F2 season. It was my job before and I was trying to do the best possible. I had four [rounds] left. I was preparing with the team as best as possible.”
Mercedes fresh doubts about the new floor
Mercedes says they have fresh doubts about the new floor which saw them struggle at last weekend at Zandvoort. The team introduced its latest upgraded floor at the Belgian GP, but it was removed from the car after some confusing results from Friday practice.
The team was convinced about the floor’s potential though and, following back-to-back evaluation in practice at the Dutch GP, it committed to racing with it for the remainder of the Zandvoort weekend. The disappointing results continued throughout the weekend, with both drivers roughly fourty-five seconds behind winner Lando Norris rasing question about design issues.
The teams says data and on-track analysis shows the new floor does indeed produce more downforce than the previous specification, technical director James Allison has suggested that it could have brought with it some negative balance characteristics – which costs more lap time than it gains.
In his post-race vlog, Allison said the team was working hard to try to get an understanding of the role the new floor is playing in changing the car characteristics. He said, “Simple answer is, we don’t fully know. You can take some straightforward measurements and say that the downforce it was supposed to deliver looked like it was there. So at one level, you could take comfort that it worked as expected.
“But a lot of the pace of the cars in this year, particularly, is down to how well they handle. So it’s not just a question of ‘does your aero package deliver you downforce’, but is it delivering you the balanced car that you need through the corners? Is it delivering you the balanced car you need from high speed to low speed?
“We definitely know that owe didn’t have a well-balanced car this weekend. That’s where most of our pace went. Whether that was the new floor, the new aero package or not, we need to keep an open mind and something we will need to revisit in future races.”
The issue impacted the teams qualifying as they overheated their tyres, as well as the car being on a knife edge. This caused the car to snap losing rear grip leading to them struggling to extract the most from the car, and the wind led to the drivers lighting up the rear.
F1 considering rookie sprint race in Abu Dhabi
F1 is looking at the idea of a rookie sprint race at the post-season Abu Dhabi Test. At the latest F1 Commission meeting F1, FIA and the teams discussed how best to create further opportunities for young drivers.
With testing of current cars so restricted, it is felt by senior figures that rookie drivers are not as prepared as they were in the past when more mileage was allowed. The idea of wildcard entries were rejected because of the regulations don’t allow for third cars, and it was thought illogical to have current stars replaced to make way for relatively unknown youngsters.
A further idea is in opening up more practice sessions for rookies, but one more leftfield proposal that is being considered is for a post-season sprint race. The idea is for a sprint featuring rookie drivers to take place after the single-day test that is due to take place in Abu Dhabi on the Tuesday after the season finale in December.
However, the plan would need to see how feasible and how the framework of rules could fit around it – as it would require a change of sporting regulations.
Speaking ahead of the Italian Grand Prix, F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali explained that he felt the idea had merit in helping develop young driving talent. he said, There is a project on the table, namely the possibility of organising a sprint race for young drivers in Abu Dhabi,”
“We are reflecting on how to give young people the opportunity during the Yas Marina test to shine and gain experience – not only by driving in the test, but also in a competitive context. We will talk about it in detail by the end of September to understand the feasibility of this idea.”
Hosting a sprint race after the Abu Dhabi test would be a huge logistical challenge, both for teams and organisers – which would have to include factors like timing systems, safety, officials, plus team personnel.
The Weekend Ahead
This weekend I think is one of the most important tests for McLaren because this is the fastest circuit with the highest speeds of the season. It’s a very different circuit to last weekend at Zandvoort and if they are challenging Red Bull or beating them they could mount a challenge for this championship. I don’t think we know how much Red Bull has lost this season.
This circuit, as we say every year is all about speed and downforce, so on paper if Red Bull which I don’t think is likely given how it has closed up during the summer that challenge will be there. I think that they are likely to favour Lando Norris, as many think that he is likely to win the championship, should they get it together winning these four races before the autumn break there could be a titanic battle in the final five.
Mercedes, I think have some head scratching to do after a difficult weekend at Zandvoort which surprised me given their recent progress. But I think as this is nearer Spielberg, Silverstone etc they could be back I think over the summer they have overtaken Ferrari. However, the prancing horse was surprised by their performance last weekend, sorry their didn’t appear to be a Ferrari story before going to press tonight.
I still think the battle for third in the constructors between Ferrari and Mercedes isn’t over yet as while its almost a hundred points both drivers contribute toward the constructors, Mercedes have won three of the last five races. Its going to be a very interesting weekend