Italian Grand Prix: stage preview

It seemed that the European part of the season started quite recently, but now summer is over and the Italian Grand Prix is ​​just around the corner – the last European stage, which took place in September all 73 times in its history.

The beginning of autumn in Queen’s Park is usually warm. In the morning it is already cool, the leaves are starting to turn yellow and fall on the asphalt, but according to formal signs it is still summer in northern Italy.

Rain is possible, but Monza from Zandvoort, where Formula 1 almost washed away last week, is more than 800 kilometers almost due south, so it will be a lot better again this weekend.

The European part of the season turned out to be very interesting, although it took place under the complete dominance of Red Bull. The team continues a record 14 wins in a row (including last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix). Second in this ranking McLaren – 11 wins in a row in 1988, and then this series was interrupted only in Monza, where, to the delight of tifosi, the McLaren racers got out and the Ferrari pilots won the winning double.

If the stands were exclusively dressed in orange last week, red will dominate in Monza. Fans invariably come to support the Scuderia, which is going through some tough times. A year ago, before the Monza stage, Ferrari took second place in the Constructors’ Championship, and now it is only fourth.

For Ferrari, this stage is of historical importance. The team will prepare a special coloring of the cars, invite guests, employees and important customers, and the company’s management will also be present. Given the traditionally high pressure in the Scuderia, the stage at the home circuit often becomes the team’s most serious test of the season.

Ferrari racers won the Italian Grand Prix 19 times, more often they won only in Germany (21 times), and the last victory was not so long ago – in 2019, Charles Leclerc won the race in Monza. Then it seemed that everything was going better with the Scuderia, but when it turned out that the engineers were not using the fuel sensor in the spirit of the regulations, a secret agreement with the FIA ​​followed and the team returned to their previous positions.

Last week, Leclerc openly admitted that it will be difficult to overtake Red Bull until the next rule change in the 2026 season, and this did not appear to be evidence of weakness, but a statement of fact. The backlog is too great and Red Bull is not standing still either.

Three years ago, at the Italian Grand Prix, the history of the Williams family in Formula 1 ended – in the next phase, the team was launched by new owners of Dorilton Capital. The contribution of this family and team to the history of Formula 1 is enormous, they are second in number of championship titles, and in almost all other rankings they are in the top three. But then a long, protracted crisis broke out, with the financial noose tightening more and more – and as a result, there was simply no way out but the sale.

The arrival of investors from Dorilton Capital, a change in team management, the ability to invite new hires and upgrade aging equipment, and invite a strong driver, which had not been the case for many years, turned the tide.

The team was led by James Vowles from Mercedes, from November 1, 2023, Pat Fry will become technical director. After several years in a row of last place in the Constructors’ Championship, the team is now seventh in the Constructors’ Championship and although it won’t rise any higher, it could well retain this position to take the next step in 2024. .

However, progress in Formula 1 is always relative. On the one hand Williams added, on the other hand Haas, Alfa Romeo and AlphaTauri lost a lot. But it’s always great when the legends come back!

One of the intrigues of the rest of the season could be the personnel issue, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. There are no vacancies, most racers are contracted at least until the end of next season, except that Logan Sargent could be replaced at Williams or Guanyu Zhou at Aston Martin, although this will have no fundamental impact. But if the transition system starts to move, vacancies may also arise in strong teams.