Martin Brundle on the Italian Grand Prix results

Former Formula 1 driver and Sky Sports F1 commentator Martin Brundle summarised the results of the Italian Grand Prix.

In qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, the top six were separated by just 0.186 seconds – the tightest result in the entire 74-year history of Formula 1.

So tight that sixth-placed Lewis Hamilton, who has taken pole position in 104 of his 348 career Grand Prix races, openly berated himself for missing out on the top spot. He even suggested that he was missing out on something these days and that Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who will take his place at Mercedes in 2025, could perhaps do better. Lewis’s indefatigable competitive spirit is admirable.

As a result, McLaren drivers occupied the entire front row. We expected an incredible race, and the 476-metre stretch from pole to the first braking at the chicane made everyone nervous. It’s easier to lose a position there than to win.

Unlike previous races, Lando Norris ideally started from pole and moved to the right to close down his teammate Oscar Piastri, allowing the Australian to slipstream in turn to defend against Russell.

Piastri then moved in front of Russell to protect the outside radius at the first chicane. George locked up his tyres and drove into the safety zone, losing ground. He also damaged his front wing, which led to his first pit stop being extended on lap 11, where he was fitted with hard tyres.

It all looked like a perfect team effort between the two McLaren boys who covered the entire width of the track and came out of the danger zone comfortably in first and second place, but it didn’t last long. Norris braked too cautiously at the second chicane and Piastri swept ahead of him. Norris quickly released the brakes, but Piastri held him on the outside and took the lead as their cars almost touched.

Norris moved slightly sideways and lost speed on the exit of the corner, and Leclerc was able to stay ahead of him to take second entering the first Lesmo corner.

Piastri is clearly not interested in Norris’ chances of winning the championship against Verstappen, as we saw in Hungary when Oscar confidently took the lead into the first corner.

As a racer I admire this attitude. That is why Piastri won titles in several series and eventually ended up in Formula 1. Whether Norris becomes champion in the same car or not is the last thing he worries about. That does not mean he will not help at some point, in fact he has helped several times, but the mentality of the racer and the killer instinct is what is important.

For Piastri and Ferrari everything was going very well, but not for McLaren – at that point they were no longer in control of the race situation, could not dictate the optimal tire pace and strategy to their rivals, they worked together, used DRS and pit stops to destabilize their main competitors, who turned out to be Ferrari drivers.

The Scuderia modified their car, reducing drag and increasing top speed. It may not have had the best effect on qualifying, but they thought it was good for the race.

McLaren switched Norris to Hard on lap 14, Ferrari responded by dropping Leclerc to 15th, much to the chagrin of the young Monegasque, who lost second place to Norris.

Piastri had a big enough lead not to pit until lap 16, so the McLaren drivers were back in first and second place and confident the problem had been solved. But everything went wrong.

After a failed qualifying, Red Bull used the opposite version of the strategy: Verstappen and Perez started on Hard. It seemed reasonable, especially since there was no safety car. But pit stops, a relatively low pace and the choice of a two-stop strategy brought Red Bull to sixth and eighth place.

Max called the car a ‘monster’ after the race, but it all seems strange because they dominated at the start of the season. Last year Max won at Monza, but this year he finished 38 seconds behind the winner.

In the race Mercedes also did not show good pace, which was unexpected: Lewis finished 22 seconds behind the leader and George, given his adventures, 39 seconds.

The main story was obvious. Both McLaren drivers complained of graining on the left front tyre and a lack of grip. Norris changed tyres for the second time on lap 33, and Piastri on lap 38.

Ferrari now had a strong position on the circuit, but could they finish without a second pit stop? Sainz struggled and was passed by both McLaren drivers on fresh tyres, dropping to fourth.

But come on, on tyres four laps older than his team-mate, Leclerc was leading by a considerable margin, and it was quickly becoming clear that Piastri and Norris needed to gain two seconds a lap on him to be able to attack. Everyone, not least the Italian fans, was beginning to realise that if Leclerc could somehow get the tyres under the chequered flag, they were in for a fantastic victory.

Ferrari played a brilliant one-stop race, and Leclerc was perfectly up to the task. His strategy wasn’t unique – nine of the nineteen drivers who finished the race had one-stop races – but it was only optimal if the car and driver could make it work. They took their chance and won.

Many people said after the finish that they could not have finished the race with one pit stop, including the McLaren drivers. If they had been able to dictate the pace in the early stages with full tanks of fuel, they might have succeeded, but Ferrari controlled the race that day.

Kevin Magnussen finished 10th for Haas despite a 10-second time penalty. In addition to the 10 seconds for the incident, he was given two penalty points on his superlicense. This brought his points total to its maximum value, meaning he will miss the next race in Baku. The penalty is too heavy. Points should only be awarded for very serious piloting errors; otherwise a simple penalty with extra time is sufficient.

With eight races to go, including three sprint weekends on Saturday, Norris is 62 points behind Verstappen in the drivers’ standings. It could have been 52 if McLaren had insisted that Piastri give the position to Norris. They haven’t done this, they feel that Norris doesn’t want to win the championship at the expense of an obedient partner, but it will be interesting to see what happens next if they really want to put pressure on Red Bull and Max.

The Constructors’ Championship is a different matter altogether. McLaren is only eight points behind Red Bull. And Ferrari is only 39 points away, which in the current balance of power looks like a battle between Ferrari and McLaren for victory in the Constructors’ Championship.

We’re in for an exciting end to this season!