Leclerc’s victory at Monza: 2024 Italian GP highlights & shocks
The 2024 Italian Formula One (F1) Grand Prix (GP) on Sunday, September 1, was one to remember, from a stunning lap one overtake to a Ferrari home race win and so much more.
Lets take a look at what this stunning race meant for punters.
Punters were able to find great value for the Monza GP with a $4.50 points finish for Kevin Magnussen, Oscar Piastri podium for $2.25, and a whopping $15 for Charles Leclerc win with the best sports betting sites.
Continuing on from their strong Zandvoort performance, Ferrari came back again with a home race win in Monza.
Leclerc performed a remarkable one-stopper (one pitstop during the race), whilst most went for the two stop strategy and that guaranteed Ferrari the win.
Charles Leclerc was paying close to $15.00 to win as tipped in our Monza betting preview.
Oscar Piastri was hunting down the Monegasque driver lap by lap after the McLaren pit wall determined he would not make it to the end on his one stop.
Piastri was 2.664s behind at the checkered flag and was going to pass Leclerc had their been 2 extra laps.
Oscar Piastri was paying $2.25 for a podium finish and saw great value for one of the smoothest cashes this year.
Mercedes had hoped for a better race here, with another disappointing Qualifying (Quali) for 7-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, and turn one wing damage for George Russell, which saw both drivers out of the podium yet again.
Monza GP Biggest Winners
- Oscar Piastri – Once again a stellar drive from the Australian driver overtaking pole sitter and teammate Lando Norris on the first lap, looking to secure his second career win. If McLaren were able to do a one stop strategy, Piastri would have won by over 10 seconds, however, the high tyre degradation meant a disappointing P2 finish. McLaren look to have secured a great young driver for their future.
- Charles Leclerc – After his first team home race win in 2019, Leclerc was able to find another here in 2024, and said, “Its just as good as the first time”, referring to his 2019 win. Leclerc managed his tires well enough during the second stint of the race and was able to successfully finish a one stop strategy. Ferrari look to have really improved their car and are a major threat still to the Drivers championship and Constructors.
- Williams – Alex Albon was able to convert his P9 race start to P9 in the race. Another strong showing for the Williams driver who will be looking to hunt down Haas (18 points) and Alpine (13 points) who are 7th and 8th in the Constructors Championship. Williams look to have also secured a strong driver in Franco Colapinto who started in P18 and finished a strong P12.
Monza Biggest Blunders
- Red Bull Racing – Red Bull have struggled since the summer break with their car and Max Verstappen is not happy with the team. Verstappen has stated the car suffers from severe understeer and that has led to multiple near-misses from the Dutchman. Red Bull are in danger of losing their Constructors and Drivers Championship to both Ferrari and McLaren.
- Lando Norris – It would not been a standard Norris pole start (P1) without losing multiple positions on the very first lap. Norris has to improve these starts, or he will lose his chance at a first Drivers Championship. Norris is on 225 points in second, whilst Verstappen has 295 points. With the current state of the Red Bull car, McLaren and Norris really need to capitalise while they can as Red Bull will improve.
- George Russell – Russell had some front wing damage after not making the first corner and clipping the final post in the run off area when rejoining the race. Without this simple mistake Russell could have been fighting for a win. He had a decent race after capitalising on the slow Sergio Perez, and finished in P7 after a P3 start.
Monza GP Biggest Surprise
- Kevin Magnussen – A ‘K-Mag’ masterclass here in Monza after starting in P13 and finishing P10, even after serving his 10 second penalty. Magnussen will now miss the Azerbaijan GP due to a race ban for too many penalty points, but nothing can be taken away from a great drive resulting in surprising points for the Haas team.