Just one week after Max Verstappen had the privilege of over 100,000 fans passionately cheering him on to victory at Zandvoort, he will have a circuit full of people hoping he will finally be beaten during the Italian Grand Prix at Monza – ideally by one of the Ferraris.
But if Verstappen disappoints the Tifosi by taking yet another win on Sunday, it will be a historic moment for the sport as Verstappen once again does something no F1 driver has ever done before.
Here are the talking points for the Italian Grand Prix.
Verstappen’s perfect ten
Max Verstappen is well used to making history in Formula 1. Indeed, from his very first laps in a Formula 1 car less than a decade ago to the first time he competed in a grand prix to his first win, Verstappen has been setting records at a remarkable rate.
Last season, Verstappen not only won his second consecutive world championship title, he also set an all-time record for the most race victories by a driver in a single season. As impressive as that achievement was, it came with the caveat that modern F1 calendars are as long as they’ve ever been.
But the Formula 1 record for consecutive grand prix victories – the nine Verstappen equalled last weekend – has stood for 70 years, established by Alberto Ascari. His run of nine wins was interrupted by one race he did not enter, the 1953 Indianapolis 500, then a points-paying world championship round.
Prior to last weekend, only one driver had won nine races in a row without any breaks or interruptions – Sebastian Vettel. Now Verstappen sits alongside Vettel as a joint record holder, with an extremely strong chance to go one better than his fellow Red Bull world champion. As much as fans may bemoan Verstappen’s stranglehold over the sport, it’s undeniable that 10 straight wins would be a truly special achievement.
Can Ferrari find form?
After 2022 started off for well for Ferrari, there has not been much for their passionate supporter base in Italy to celebrate through the first 13 rounds of the 2023 season.
With Red Bull continuing to monopolise the top step of the podium, Ferrari arrive at Monza without a victory to their name for the third time in the last four seasons. While the team naturally want to win this weekend, Red Bull’s performance advantage coupled with Verstappen’s unassailable form this season renders that unlikely. But Ferrari could be Red Bull’s closest competitors.
In the fight behind the Red Bulls, Ferrari have been strongest at circuits with long straights with corners that require good traction on exit to achieve the best lap time. Circuits like Baku, Montreal (had they not made a hash of qualifying) and Spa-Francorchamps. At the latter Charles Leclerc was the first driver to take the chequered flag behind the Red Bull pair. With Monza being the fastest circuit on the calendar, featuring plenty of traction zones, both Leclerc and team mate Carlos Sainz Jnr will be looking for a strong showing in front of the Tifosi.
“Monza is always special for us, to feel the support,” Leclerc said after last weekend’s race. “I’m looking forward to it because it’s been a difficult season until now.”
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What is Lawson truly capable of?
Daniel Ricciardo could not wait to get back into the cockpit after the summer break to kick off his F1 return with AlphaTauri in earnest after two back-to-back rounds to warm him up. Sadly, he will have to wait longer to return to racing after suffering a broken left hand in a crash during Friday’s second practice session in Zandvoort.
But with Ricciardo sidelined, Red Bull reserve driver Liam Lawson was handed a rare opportunity to play substitute and make an unexpected grand prix debut with just a single hour of practice before he was thrown straight into his first ever qualifying session. The 21-year-old performed admirably across the two days, keeping his composure in the toughest of circumstances as rain hit the Dutch Grand Prix twice. As other, much more experienced drivers slid off track, Lawson kept his car out of the barriers and saw the chequered flag to achieve his core goal of the weekend.
With Ricciardo undergoing an operation on his injured hand, he is forced to miss the grand prix that he won just two seasons ago. Naturally, AlphaTauri are turning to Lawson again for Monza. This time he will have the luxury of three practice sessions to feel his way into the weekend before his second grand prix start. He now has an opportunity to head into the weekend fully prepared and ready to perform at his full potential – but with that, the expectations on him become much greater too.
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McLaren wing it
Ever since McLaren introduced its major upgrades package at the Austrian Grand Prix in late June, the Woking team’s fortunes have been transformed. From considering a Q3 appearance as a successful Saturday to regularly appearing on the top two rows of the grid, McLaren have become one of the strongest teams on the grid behind Red Bull.
However, at the last high-speed circuit at Spa, McLaren admittedly had some difficulties with their draggy rear wing leaving Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri highly vulnerable down the track’s long straights compared to their rivals. While McLaren have often managed to make up speed in recent rounds through the corners – particularly those in the higher speed range – Monza has the strongest ratio of straights to corners than any other circuit.
Team principal Andrea Stella admitted after the Spa weekend that the team needed to address this weakness “quite urgently” heading into the summer break. “And this urgency, for instance, comes from the fact that second race after shutdown is Monza, and you can’t go racing in Monza like this,” he explained. “So there’s urgent work that needs to happen at McLaren to fix the situation.” If they have not found a solution, they could be set for a tough three days.
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A second try of the ATA
At the Hungarian Grand Prix, F1 experimented with a novel new regulation aimed to reduce tyre waste by limiting the dry tyre sets each driver could use over the three days.
The ‘Alternative Tyre Allocation’ will return for Monza for the second and last time in 2023. Over the weekend, covering the three practice sessions, qualifying and the race, each driver will receive an allocation of 11 sets of Pirelli tyres instead of the standard 13 – four sets of softs, four mediums, and three hards.
Secondly, each round of qualifying will again have specific tyre restrictions. In Q1, all drivers must run on hard tyres, with those who progress to Q2 limited to only running on mediums. The top ten drivers who make it to the final shoot-out for pole position will be required to use soft rubber in the final phase.
The ATA received mixed reviews from drivers and teams at the Hungaroring, but Saturday saw one of the closest and most exciting qualifying sessions of the season. Whether that was a direct result of the experimental rules or just sheer coincidence, it will be interesting to see if any patterns emerge in this second field test.
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A rare dry weekend?
In what is likely to be a record run in Formula 1 history, the last eight consecutive rounds of the season have all seen rain-affected at least one F1 session during the grand prix weekend. On top of that the race which should have preceded them – coincidentally, also in Italy – was cancelled due to severe flooding.
With competition within the field already fierce, the consistent impact of weather has ramped up the pressure and intensity on both drivers and teams this season.
After so many rain-affected weekends in a row, the paddock could be forgiven for wishing for just a simple, straight forward, sunny Italian Grand Prix. Fortunately for them, they look set to get exactly that, if early forecasts are anything to go by.
Drivers will be keeping their fingers crossed that the current predictions of a zero percent chance of rain across all three days of running holds true, as ambient temperatures hover just below 30 degrees every day of the weekend. If that comes to pass, it will be the first full dry race weekend since the Miami Grand Prix in early May – coincidentally the first round of Verstappen’s record-equalling wins streak.
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Are you going to the Italian Grand Prix?
If you’re heading to Italy for this weekend’s race, we want to hear from you:
Who do you think will be the team to beat in the Italian Grand Prix? Have your say below.
