Italy Race Recap: Legendary drive from Leclerc delights Tifosi, driver divide widens at McLaren and Red Bull out of energy

Monza was a fairytale outing for Charles Leclerc, who cemented his status as a local legend in front of stands packed with loyal Tifosi. Following on from his sensational win in Monaco, Leclerc followed up with a win for Ferrari at home, while his teammate wound up a respectable fourth. Outside of Ferrari, the tension cranked up a few notches at McLaren as it's hot-shot duo battled it out wheel to wheel, against the advice of its management, all while Red Bull was left wondering how its once enviable advantage has all but disappeared. Here are all the highlights and what we learned from the 2024 Italian Grand Prix.

Leclerc gains local legend status with home victory 

Charles Leclerc should certainly be in line for a hefty bonus this year. Not only did the Ferrari frontman seal an emotional win for himself at home in Monaco but he also repeated the feat at Ferrari's most important race - Monza.

"I mean Monaco and Monza are the two races I want to win every year," said Leclerc after the race. "Obviously, I want to win as many races as possible, and the World Championship as soon as possible, but these are the two most important races of the season and I managed to win them this year. It's so, so special."

In front of a packed, adoring Tifosi crowd, Leclerc and his teammate Carlos Sainz started fourth and fifth on the grid respectively. With tyre degradation a greater concern this year thanks to the resurfaced track, teams such as McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull all eyed a two-stop strategy, but not Ferrari. The home favourites stuck to a one-stop strategy that paid off for Leclerc.

Holding back McLaren's Oscar Piastri, Leclerc built enough of a buffer between them to ensure the Australian driver ran out of time to close the gap. With less than 10 laps to go, the prospect of a home win for Ferrari began to look like a reality.

"It's an incredible feeling," said Leclerc after winning Monza for the second time in his career. "Actually, I thought that the first time would just feel like this, and then the second time – if there was a second time – wouldn't feel as special, but my god, the emotions in the last few laps, exactly the same like in 2019.

"I still think McLaren are the favourites, but we have done a step forward that's for sure. Baku is a pretty nice track for me, I quite like this track and I've been quite competitive in the past so who knows? Maybe we can achieve something special again there."

On the other side of the garage, Sainz did a good job but just missed out on the podium, bringing home fourth place on his 30th birthday. With a reputation for poor strategic decisions, Ferrari's performance in Monza did a good job of dispelling that.

McLaren drivers put new 'papaya rules' to the test

If the 2024 season tells us anything, it's that McLaren finds itself in an increasingly tricky position. One the plus side, it's shown it's got two razor-sharp drivers and a car that's quick enough to cut it at the top. But on the other hand, it's fighting to keep its two hot-shot drivers united, as it challenges for the teams’ and potentially the drivers’ title in Norris' case.

In a bid to maintain the peace that it's previously enjoyed, McLaren Racing boss Zak Brown revealed the "papaya rules" - terms of engagement, designed to keep its drivers in check.

Brown's admission came after the race saw Piastri pass Norris to take the lead on the opening lap. Passing by his teammate on Turn 4, in what Norris would later call "too close for comfort," Piastri's move could have proved disastrous for both drivers. "We both easily could have been out in that corner if I brake one metre later," said Norris. Lucky for both McLaren drivers, Piastri pulled it off and landed second in return, while Norris followed behind in third.

With Norris' shot at the title still a possibility, Brown is hoping that his new team rules will avoid any future disasters and keep the team on track for one of its strongest years yet. "Race him hard, race him clean, don't touch," was the message from the top.

"We will have to review together with the drivers, look at the videos, understand their point of view, and then we will assess together whether they were fully compliant or not," team principal Andrea Stella reasoned when asked if the move complied with the new directive.

With eight rounds to go, it's more than likely the McLaren driver battle will continue to heat up towards the end of the season. Watch this space.

SEE ALSO: CAN NORRIS WIN THE DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP IN 2024?

Red Bull running out of energy 

Since the start of the season, the Red Bull juggernaut has been rapidly running out of steam. At times, it has looked like its lost its power entirely, and now after Monza, it's top man is losing his patience.

Six races have passed without a win for Verstappen, which was previously inconceivable. "If we don't change anything on the car, it's all going to be bad from now onwards to the end of the season, so we have a lot of work to do", said the Dutchman after Monza.

The weekend started on a bad note with a 0.7 second gap between him and pole in qualifying. The Dutch driver went on to describe his car as "a monster" before starting the race seventh behind Lewis Hamilton.

From there, the team failed to make much ground in the race with Verstappen pulling in sixth, while his teammate Sergio Perez came home eighth, in the same position he started.

"We've hit the ceiling in certain areas and the car's disconnected," team principal Christian Horner admitted. "We were in no man's land basically doing our own race," said Verstappen. "It's part of racing, unfortunately. It's not what I want but we know that this exists as well. We are pushing hard now."

After Monza, the gap between Red Bull and its closest competitor McLaren is just eight points, while the gap between Verstappen and his closest rival Norris is 62.

Magnussen faces race ban 

Despite coming dangerously close to a driver ban after Monaco, the blow finally came for Haas driver Kevin Magnussen in Monza, after the Dane received an additional two points for a seemingly innocuous wheel-bang with Pierre Gasly. That took his total to 12, meaning he's out of the running in Azerbaijan.

"I don't understand it at all," Magnussen said after finishing 10th. "You know, flat out, just completely confused." Even his 'victim' Gasly was left hoping the stewards would row back on their "unfair" decision. This is the first driver ban since Romain Grosjean received one in 2012, after causing a first-corner pile-up at Spa.

It's expected that Brit Oliver Bearman will step in at Haas, giving the young British hopeful another chance to impress in Formula 1 ahead of his full-time seat next year with the team. 

Antonelli signs to Mercedes shortly after shunting the car 

Of all the places Mercedes' new recruit could have shunted a car into the wall, it happened to be on his home turf, just moments before his arrival into the Hamilton hot seat was announced.

Controversially replacing Russell in FP1, Andrea Kimi Antonelli impressed with his pace. His first lap was a 1m23.955s, which initially sent him to the top of the timesheets, before Lewis Hamilton set 1m23.350s. Shortly after, disaster struck the new recruit as the rear of his car lost grip through the Parabolica, firing Russell's car into the wall.

Despite the damage, Mercedes officially announced his arrival the following day, with team boss Toto Wolf admitting he'd rather have to slow down a driver than try to speed up a slower one.