MONZA: How We Maximised Our Result

A celebration of racing? Festival of F1? A marvel of modern motorsport? Whatever hyperbole one can come up with, it's safe to say that the 2023 Italian Grand Prix put on a spectacular show. It was fitting for such an incredible venue, and for fans everywhere to savour.

There was an electric atmosphere at the track all weekend. It was a sea of red in the grandstands and we appreciated all our fans dotted within who were cheering us on; the support means a great deal.

The weekend wasn't without its challenges. With the third fastest car on race day though, we maximised the result and scored a solid haul of points for our championship battle.

Our advantage over our nearest competitors in the Constructors' Championship was extended; Ferrari has now moved to P3 in the standings and the gap to them is 45 points.

This was encouraging because we're typically not as strong on low downforce tracks and didn't expect to be particularly quick in Monza.

I knew if I did a good job the second row might be possible but P4 still exceeds our expectations.

George Russell

Qualifying on Saturday gave a window into how frantic Sunday's Grand Prix was going to be. Just over one second covered P1 to P19 in Q1. It was a similar story in Q2. What about Q3? Three tenths would separate George in P4 to Norris in P9. Fine margins.

For our pair, it was a tale of two halves.

On their final laps, Lewis was slightly up on George until Turn 6. From the Lesmos onwards, the pendulum swung the other way. That became a 0.15s advantage for George by the end of the lap. Likely explained by tiny differences in tyre temperature and out-lap treatment. The result? The difference between the second and fourth row on the grid.

"The car really came alive for me and felt competitive," said George after qualifying. "It's so close in the top 10 between ourselves, Aston, McLaren. Ferrari were a bit of a surprise. I knew if I did a good job the second row might be possible but P4 still exceeds our expectations. I'm really happy with the result."

Those qualifying positions provided plenty of opportunity for the race on Sunday. We opted to split the strategies with both cars. George started on the Medium and Lewis was offset on the Hard tyre. George was hoping, more than expecting to fight with those ahead on the grid. The aim for Lewis meanwhile? To run long and make the most of fresher, softer rubber in the closing stages.

That's exactly how the race ended up unfolding. Straightforward on paper but that does a disservice to what was a barnstormer of a Grand Prix! For George, the Ferraris were just that little bit out of reach. There was still a feisty battle with the Red Bull of Sergio Perez; some smart defence keeping the Mexican behind in the early stages. A five-second time penalty after cutting the chicane whilst battling Ocon scuppered his chances of racing him further though. He had the pace to negate that penalty and come home P5.

"It was definitely the maximum which is a bit of a shame," said George. "I didn't expect Ferrari to be a small step ahead of us and Red Bull were just so fast. The five-second time penalty was probably fair. The field was quite spread out but I'm sure it'll be a different story in Singapore."

For Lewis, his race was all about biding his time. Patiently extended his stint on the Hard tyre he put his switch on to the Medium compound to good use. He was able to unleash his pace and fight up the order while others were on the slower Hard compound.

Despite losing a spot to Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin in the pit stop phase, he was able to quickly take it back and then turned his attentions to hunting down the McLarens. The battle with Oscar Piastri wasn't without its drama. The two collided at the entry to the second chicane, but both emerged unscathed. Lewis was given a five-second time penalty for the incident.

"A bit unfortunate, I misjudged the gap that I had to Piastri," said Lewis after the race. "It was totally my fault, and I went and apologised to him straight afterwards."

Every point and position through these races seem to be incredibly hard fought.

Lewis Hamilton

From there, Lewis swiftly passed Lando Norris and the Williams of Alex Albon, to move up to sixth place. He was able to quickly pull a gap to the cars behind, meaning the time penalty didn't impact his finishing position.

You never want to collect time penalties but sometimes, mistakes happen when you are fighting hard, and it shows just how much our two drivers were pushing out there.

"Every point and position through these races seem to be incredibly hard fought," Lewis added. "It was nice to be offset on the Hard tyre, but it was difficult in the beginning and not easy to follow in the DRS train. But at the end I enjoyed the battles."

It wasn't just our pair in the midst of those wheel-to-wheel battles. There was action throughout the field, and it was ultimately the Ferraris who provided the most excitement. They made Red Bull work hard for the win; a reminder of what could have been possible for us on the high-downforce circuit of Zandvoort just a week earlier. It was a thrilling race, with Max Verstappen taking a record-breaking 10^th consecutive victory.

"The result itself shows a great driver in a great car, and both are competing at an extremely high level," said Toto post-race as he acknowledged the achievement.

Wrapping up Monza, we left the circuit with a good collection of points, knowing we couldn't have squeezed much more out of Sunday. We executed the strategies well and got the most from the car's performance.

Now our focus switches to Singapore and another track with very different characteristics - a high-downforce track like Zandvoort, where our pace was encouraging. So we're excited to be back racing under the lights in Marina Bay.

2023 Singapore Grand Prix