Picture Credit: Formula 1
For the first time in so many races, one shall see a Ferrari leading the pack and not Red Bull. Is this a good sign? Well, not if you’re Horner or Max and a fan seeing a habitual Bull run. Though, surely the Tifosi won’t mind such a thing. By putting pure focus and attention, Leclerc is expected to dominate at Monza. That said, SportsTiger brings you the top predictions for the Italian GP of 2022.
1. Leclerc will dominate
“He wins at Spa, he’s won at Monza!” Who can forget the famous words from Crofty in what was an exasperating season for Charles Leclerc with Ferrari in 2019?
To refresh one’s memory, Charles Leclerc won his maiden Monza attempt with Ferrari back in 2019, a year after Raikkonen set the ball rolling and the sparks flying with his incredible 1:19:119 lap record at the venue.
This time around, as the Ferrari driver has bagged pole position in front of the Tifosi, his first pole after France, Leclerc is courting the big discussion at Monza: will Ferrari take their home GP after a dominant Saturday show?
Who knows.
2. Max will easily make it to the top five
Verstappen is the main guy on the grid; the driver you don’t want to lose to but so often do thanks to the Dutchman’s strong race pace.
But at Monza, where Verstappen’s yet to become a Master akin to Lewis, Red Bull will find their go-to guy amid an intricate battle.
Using strong straight-line speed, ever an ally of the Milton Keynes-based outfit, though Verstappen will charge through the field, he’ll likely emerge anywhere but not on the top step of the podium.
Surely, a Red Bull win at Ferrari land would be hitting back at the Maranello-based outfit; it were Ferrari who won at Spielberg thanks to Leclerc magic.
But will that happen, we don’t know. And one’s not really certain.
3. Sainz in the points
Carlos Sainz, who looked set for an incredible final flying lap and did drive a strong one indeed at 1:20:429 begins his Monza run from P18. That’s as bad as beginning the contest from the rear end in itself.
But courtesy of a flying start and early race skirmishes to good effect, the noted Spanish driver will jump a few cars and get easily into the top ten not long after the race start.
But what position he ultimately gathers will rest on not just Ferrari’s race pace but the mistake the others make.
In all, Sainz won’t drive a race to forget.
4. Alonso will outperform Ocon
Alonso finished ahead of Ocon at the Hungarian Grand Prix, where he scored an eighth. In the next race, he scored a fifth at Spa Francorchamps, while Ocon managed a fighting seventh.
And in what was F1’s most recent race at Zandvoort, home to the Dutch Grand Prix, Alonso scored a valuable sixth whilst Ocon gathered a valiant ninth. Out here at Monza, Alonso will surely dominate the proceedings and put all his power and focus into beating the best of the midfield and shall likely make the most of what is a respectable P6 grid position.
Ocon begins from fourteenth on the grid.
5. A day Ferrari will not regret
Ferrari are the proven masters of Monza. That’s largely thanks to Michael Schumacher’s staggering successes, something that the sport’s purists and racing nerds will expect Leclerc to replicate.
On Sunday, it’ll certainly be Ferrari’s race to lose as Leclerc could not have asked for a better position from which to begin at Monza.
In taking pole, his eighth this year and his first after the summer break, Leclerc had finally challenged Verstappen again.
And the Monegasque will likely sign a red letter day for Ferrari in front of hundreds of thousands of crazed fans in a short while. What’ll be ideal will be Sainz in the top five somehow if he can manage that.