Charles Leclerc has taken a couple of surprise poles this year, one of them at the ultra-fast Baku circuit.
Running the skinny wing required to do so though ultimately destroyed his Ferrari’s tyres during the race – will the Scuderia go for a similar glory run in front of its devoted Tifosi crowd?
Come Saturday, we might see some desperate lunges in a bid to get up the grid for Sunday. Fernando Alonso put on another first-lap masterclass in his Alpine at Zandvoort. If anyone can do it again at Monza, he can.
Crucial strategy
Pierre Gasly shocked F1 with his against-the-odds win last night
Grand Prix Photo
The Monza steeplechase tends to be a one-stop affair, putting even more emphasis on successful qualifying sessions. It can also lead to unusual results, such as Pierre Gasly’s win last season.
The AlphaTauri driver had fortuitously already made his singular stop due to ironically not being able to make it up the field – team mate Daniel Kvyat had radioed in to complain his French team-mate was too slow.
Then Kevin Magnussen’s Haas spluttered to a halt by the pit entry, bringing out the safety car. Everyone else pitted as a result, leaving Gasly third behind Hamilton and Lance Stroll. The Canadian then fluffed his lines at the first chicane on the restart after Charles Leclerc’s shunt, Hamilton had to serve a 10sec stop-go penalty for changing tyres when the pitlane was closed, and the win was all Gasly’s.
There’s every possibility we see another shock one-stop win this weekend.
Driver market settles
Now the driver market has largely fallen into place – aside from that second Alfa Romeo seat and Mazepin-accompanying berth at Haas of course – most drivers can get their heads down on the track.
