F1 Paddock Notebook - Italian GP Sunday

- Charles Leclerc scored the second victory of his Formula 1 career on Sunday at Monza, soaking up heavy pressure from Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas to hold on for the win.

- Leclerc matched Hamilton’s record for the shortest period of time between his first and second F1 wins (one week). Hamilton took his first two F1 wins at the back-to-back races in Canada and the USA in 2007.

- The result saw Leclerc become Ferrari’s first winner of the Italian Grand Prix since Fernando Alonso in 2010, ending a long drought for the ‘Tifosi’. He has also now overtaken Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel in the drivers’ championship, and is just three points shy of Max Verstappen in the standings.

- Leclerc’s aggressive on-track moves sparked anger from Hamilton at one stage when the Ferrari driver appeared to move under braking entering the Roggia Chicane. FIA race director Michael Masi responded by showing Leclerc a black-and-white flag – a rule that has returned to usage this year as F1’s unofficial ‘yellow card’ – and later explained that no time penalty was considered as the two drivers did not make contact.

- Hamilton questioned the ruling after being reminded that Max Verstappen received a time penalty for moving under braking at last year’s race: “We’ve just constantly asked for consistency. There was a rule put in place, and then it wasn’t abided by today. They used different consequences for the rule today. I don’t know why that was the case. I guess the stewards woke up on a different side of the bed this morning.”

- Hamilton saw his lead in the F1 drivers’ championship decrease for the first time since the Austrian Grand Prix at the start of July, losing three points to teammate Bottas after finishing third. Hamilton still has a healthy 63-point advantage with eight races remaining this year. His two-race win drought is the longest he’s had since failing to win in both the USA and Mexico last year.

- Sebastian Vettel had a day to forget as he finished 13th, but some considered him fortunate to have stayed in the race at all. Vettel rejoined the track unsafely after spinning at Ascari on Lap 6, making contact with Lance Stroll. Vettel received a 10-second stop/go penalty for the incident, as well as having to pit for repairs that ultimately put him one lap down. Masi confirmed after the race that the stewards never considered waving the black flag at Vettel.

- Vettel also picked up three penalty points on his FIA super licence, meaning he is just three shy of a race ban. Vettel said after the race he was not aware of this.

- Stroll was also penalised for unsafely rejoining the track, but only received a drive-through penalty. The Racing Point driver said he thought the penalties should have been equal between him and Vettel, but Masi said the contact in Vettel’s return to the track reasoned the harsher sanction.

- Renault recorded its best team result of the season as Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg finished fourth and fifth respectively, marking a 21-point gain on McLaren in the constructors’ championship. Both drivers said the low downforce requirements for Monza had suited the R.S.19 car well, which combined with struggles for Vettel and the Red Bull drivers allowed them to record such a strong result.

- Alexander Albon took P6 in his second outing for Red Bull after a hectic race. An early off-track moment at the first Lesmo while trying an ambitious pass on Carlos Sainz cost him time before he was hit with a penalty for gaining an advantage off-track during a fight with Kevin Magnussen that Albon felt was “harsh”.

- Teammate Max Verstappen could only recover from his back of grid start to P8 after contact on the first lap forced him to pit for a new front wing. Verstappen felt his pace was similar to that of the Ferrari and Mercedes runners at the front of the pack. He is now 99 points behind Hamilton in the drivers’ championship after scoring only four points in the Spa-Monza double-header.

- Antonio Giovinazzi gave the Italian fans at Monza even more reason to celebrate as he recorded his best result to date in F1, finishing ninth. Giovinazzi said after the race that the result felt all the more significant following his late crash at Spa seven days earlier. He was the first Italian to race on home soil in eight years.

- Alfa Romeo teammate Kimi Raikkonen had a harder time, describing the weekend as “shit”. Raikkonen was hit with a 10-second stop/go penalty after Alfa Romeo had started him on the wrong tyres. Even though his car underwent changes in parc ferme, as the survival cell was not changed, the team was not permitted to start him on fresh tyres. Raikkonen should have started on the set he used in Q2, reasoning the penalty. He was classified 15th.

- Lando Norris recovered from 16th on the grid to finish 10th, scoring McLaren’s only point of the day after an unsafe pit release forced Carlos Sainz to park up and retire. Norris felt a better result would have been possible had it not been for the Virtual Safety Car that helped some of his rivals, with a late charge to catch Giovinazzi in P9 ultimately falling short.