Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix was a joyous occasion for Ferrari fans.
The crowd erupted as Charles Leclerc crossed the finish line, securing a thrilling victory at Monza. This marked his second major win of the year after triumphing in Monaco. Despite this success, Leclerc remains cautious, knowing there’s still a lot of work ahead for Ferrari in the last eight races of the season.
Leclerc’s Third Podium in a Row
This win places Leclerc third in the drivers’ standings, with Ferrari just 39 points behind Red Bull in the constructors’ race. However, it hasn’t been an easy season. Disappointing finishes at Spielberg and Silverstone showed how much work Ferrari still needs to catch up to McLaren. Leclerc is aware that more progress is necessary.
Leclerc: Ferrari “shouldn’t rely” on just one race
“We shouldn’t rely on the race we have just done,” said Leclerc, keeping his excitement in check. “As a team, it’s really important for us that once we come back to the factory, we reset everything that has happened during the weekend. We learn from it and try to analyse everything, but we should leave emotions aside and reset as a team and go again in Baku, not having crazy high expectations. That’s not where the team is at the moment.”
With eight races left in 2024, there’s still much to fight for. Red Bull’s struggles open up opportunities for Ferrari to challenge McLaren, who are only 31 points ahead. The upgraded SF-24 car brought to Monza could be key if it performs well on other tracks.
Fans might think this news means Ferrari can easily catch up now.
However, Leclerc knows Monza is unique: “Baku will also be very different, and Singapore too. We’ve got to reset. We did that reset from Monaco to Montreal, but as we’ve seen from Monaco to Montreal, it was a really big change from one weekend to another. And then we went through three or four of the worst races of the season, just because we were trying to understand what was going on in our car.”
“Hopefully we don’t go through three or four very difficult races from now on, and I don’t think it will be the case. But again, it’s very important that not only the team but I think also the expectations from outside don’t become crazy high from one race to another because this is not realistic,” concluded Leclerc.
What do you think? Can Ferrari keep up this momentum?
