Alexander Albon, Red Bull, Monza, 2019

Rate the race: 2019 Italian Grand Prix

2019 Italian Grand Prix

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What did you think of today’s race? Share your verdict on the Italian Grand Prix.

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Join in the latest poll and give your verdict on the race: 10 being the highest and 1 the lowest. Please vote based on how entertaining and exciting you thought the race was, not on how your preferred driver or team performed.

What were the best and worst moments of the race? What was the main thing you’ll remember about it? Rate the race out of ten and leave a comment below:

Rate the 2019 Italian Grand Prix out of 10

  • 10 (14%)
  • 9 (28%)
  • 8 (36%)
  • 7 (14%)
  • 6 (4%)
  • 5 (2%)
  • 4 (0%)
  • 3 (0%)
  • 2 (0%)
  • 1 (1%)

Total Voters: 244

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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66 comments on “Rate the race: 2019 Italian Grand Prix”

  1. This is the official change of guard folks. Fending off Hamilton is insane. Great race by Charles!

    1. Great race, deserved in many senses, but won kind of dirty, questionable whether he’d have been allowed those moves somewhere else other than Monza. Still I guess it’s good all round that Ferrari get to win in Italy.

      1. Yep, indeed @david-br, Leclerc drove great the entire weekend, maximising his changes, including quite a few borderline things yesterday and today, but, it’s Monza at Ferrari, and it was a great race to watch.

        Hamilton could perhaps have won had Leclerc been a better choir boy, and had he himself been a tad cleaner, but, Bottas moving a bit closer and Leclerc finally ahead of Vettel in the WDC, well, nothing he will lose sleep over, nor many others, I suspect. Vettel, well, eh, thanks for all the fish?

        1. Actually, on this I concur. Leclerc drove beyond the permissible and won. Plenty of the best drivers (and champions) have done and will do the same. In a sense it adds to his repertoire – he did similar to Verstappen after the latter drove hard against him. But I gave the race a 9, as it was a great battle, and he did drive brilliantly. Defending against both Mercedes without any help from his team mate probably did require ‘extra’ measures.

        1. @peartree Just being realistic. You can’t give a driver a warning for their driving, then excuse a blatant rule infringement right afterwards, a double move and clear block under braking. Well obviously you can when it’s Ferrari at Monza desperate for a win with a massive crowd roaring them on. I don’t mind him winning at all, but I’ve no problem in pointing out the obvious fact the stewards ducked the right call.

  2. 9 out of 10

  3. Blaize Falconberger (@)
    8th September 2019, 15:32

    8/10 Excellent race today – Those Mercs pushed LeClerc all the way to an amazing win…
    Ferrari Fans: “Vettel? Vettel who?”

  4. Yet another exciting race, especially for Monza’s standards.

  5. Not sure on some of Leclerc’s defensive driving, but he did a great race. Bottas bottled it and Vettel… eh.

    1. His defensive moves were very near to being completely unacceptable.

      Pleased to see the stewards warning rather than punishing though.

      1. @sham sport should be fair, this wasn’t.

      2. @sham He should obviously have got a penalty after being put under warning for his driving after the first incident. Moving twice under braking was dangerous and a clear rule infringement. Still, I never ever expected stewards to penalize Ferrari at Monza and deny them a win.

  6. Vettel to retire?

    1. Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
      8th September 2019, 15:43

      Alonso/Hulk to Ferrari?

      1. The Hulk might make a good #2.
        Ferrari can’t handle two #1s, and honestly, they ought to back Leclerc as their future.

      2. Hulk might be a good choice at this time yeah.

    2. An interesting question. It would look a lot like running from a challenge; something some say he’s already guilty of after leaving Red Bull post-2014. I’d prefer to see him re-group over the winter (if he doesn’t in the latter part of this year) and come back at Leclerc in 2020.

      Vettel is still an exceptional driver when running comfortably at the front, but he just looks terrible when having to fight for places or under pressure. Surely more mistakes in the last year than the other front-runners put together?

      Will Ferrari now be wondering if they want him, rather than the other way around? Equally, which driver would want to go up against Leclerc having seen Vettel being “schooled” in recent races. You’d need a big ego and a big talent – surely only someone like Verstappen or Ricciardo would stand a chance? Alonso simply has too much to lose if he were to be beaten.

      1. @ben-n I don’t honestly think he’s an exceptional driver even at the front now. Spinning now on his own and rejoining the track dangerously (something he’s previously been careful to avoid). Plus being thrashed now on qualifying, Leclerc’s weakest point at the start of the season. The only thing to be said in Vettel’s defense is that even Verstappen is now going through a poor patch.

  7. Another really enjoyable race and a brilliant drive by Leclerc. When it was him vs the Mercedes’ I was certain they would be able to nick it from with strategy, but he resisted them so well (some of his driving a little naughty at times).

    Vettel’s race was very poor and another mistake to add to his long list in the last 12 months. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt for the rejoining incident until I’ve seen it a few more times, but if my instinct is right, he deserves a big whack of penalty points for it; very dangerous. It’ll be punishment enough watching Leclerc take the adoration of the tifosi.

    Hamilton did well but couldn’t quite nick it… Bottas also made mistakes that stopped him from having a proper attack.

    Quietly good race from Renault and quietly average from Red Bull!

  8. 7/10 for me at most. The speed of that Ferrari ruined it. Mercedes with tow and DRS couldn’t even have an attempt on the straight. 2 attempts Ham had were blocked through double move in braking area and pushing Ham off the track. Warning in both cases. Not that I want a penalty but that’s not the driving quality I want to see. As for Vettel, he’s losing more an more, perhaps a switch to Alfa Romeo might be good for him, it did wonders for Kimi.

    1. Did Leclerc received a 2nd warning too? I missed it.

      1. @bulgarian He was told on the radio not to move in the braking zones, by his team. Presumably because race director warned the team.

    2. That’s a strange critique. Ferrari only has an edge over Merc at pure speed tracks, and they managed to make it stick this time.

      In fact, I’d argue that going for straight-line speed as a first aero principle has been a brilliant way to push back against the dominance of Merc. They know that the one place a pure speed car can win is their home track, so the boost in morale from doing so sure takes some of the shadow off the loss of Marcionne.

      And wouldn’t you love to be in delivery of any Marinello car that come’s off the line next week?

  9. Anticlimax in the race, just like Qualifying.

    Spineless stewards, spineless Bottas, and some awful driving from at least 4 of the field.

    The stewards were definitely scared of the tifosi when they made their decision about 2 very unfair, awful and potentially dangerous attempts by Charles to defend from Lewis.

    That said, it was an OK race, not boring because of the suspense. 6/10

    1. Blaize Falconberger (@)
      8th September 2019, 15:52

      Can’t agree on the stewarding, I thought it was excellent… Charles raced hard and Lewis was magnanimous in his comments after the race. I’m a Mercedes and Lewis fan through and through, but I though Charles did what he had to do to win and nothing that Lewis wouldn’t have done, had the roles been reversed.

      1. <> Yep …

  10. 9/10. We saw everything. Why Hamilton is better driver than Bottas, why Leclerc is a great driver already.

    1. @bulgarian “Great driver”? good – sure but not great. At least not yet. He’s got no competition within the team, in a very fast car. We need to see him go against peak Vettel, Ric, Alonso, Max or Ham in the same car to really know where he stands. We haven’t really seen his wheel to wheel skills or his attacking more. A lot more to observe before calling him great.

      1. We need to see him go against peak Vettel, Ric, Alonso, Max or Ham in the same car to really know where he stands.

        Please explain how he could go against peak Alonso or Vettel…

        1. @mxmxd thats not so hard. Alonso can come back any time, he just needs to want it, which is not a remote possibility imo. Vettel I don’t know what’s with him but we certainly saw much better driving from him before. Charles will get many opportunities to race with the best and I hope he takes them and not hide behind a contract.

          1. The only way Leclerc could’ve raced against prime Vettel or Alonso was if he had joined F1 at 13 years old.

      2. I think you just saw LEC in action in Austria, GB and today. I think he’s pretty good, to say the least.

  11. Well the monotony of the mercedes run of 1-2 finishes seems like a distant memory after the last handful of races. Glad to see Charles win again despite some questionable defensive driving. Tense all the way to the flag. Really happy to see renault up there.

    1. @tommy-c I doubt Ferrari will win again this season, these 2 races were all about power and top speed. Abu Dhabi might be good for them too but that’s it.

      1. @ivan-vinitskyy I’m not sure Abu Dhabi will be that strong for them. It has some long straights but I think most of the time will be made up in the slow/medium speed corners. Agree that Ferrari are unlikely to win another this season though.

      2. @ivan-vinitskyy – Maybe not Ferrari, but if Max can snap out of his post-summer funk, Singapore beckons?

  12. 9. This is what F1 should be about.

    One point though, it was a shame we didn’t get to see the rest of the field at any point during the race. In that sense it’s hard to rate it.

    1. @john-h Exactly what is that? Ferrari winning?

  13. 8 for the race. But while not a direct part of the race, I took another point off due to truly woeful TV direction. Whoever is in charge of that needs to be swiftly moved on

    1. Suffering Williams Fan
      8th September 2019, 15:49

      +1. That TV direction really was woeful, some of the worst I’ve seen. Frustrating in what was otherwise a very good race.

      1. +1. Not even glimpses of a few seconds of other battles on track. Verstappen was right on the tail of Perez for laps on end. I wanted to see how Perez was defending (who, by the way, drove a great race today).

        1. You needed the onboard channel for that fight. Very nice fight and respect between VER and PER after a hard fought 7 the place.
          The director was horrible this race..

    2. I second that it was terrible.

    3. And the trend continues on cutting to the crowd when something important is happening.
      Vettel spun and they cut to the crowd. obnoxious.
      Another compaint, at least for me, it that intervals are not always on when there is a close battle.

    4. Agreed

  14. This is a 7 (and a 9 for Monza standards)

  15. An 8 for me very good race.

  16. It sure was tense. One of those races where you simply cannot afford to look away for fear of missing a race-defining moment. Also, pretty solid stewarding this time around, despite all the challenges they had to deal with.

  17. 8/10 race was in doubt until they waved the black and white flag, from then on you knew the home favourite was going to win one way or another.

  18. Great race, gave it a 10 out of 10.
    Great result LEC getting the checkered flag as well as a black & white one:-)
    I don’t think I have ever seen anyone throw a car around a track like that for a long time….All but hopeless Camera work though.

    1. That’s two black and whites then ;)

  19. 9/10..what a race. Reminiscent of Alonso and Schumacher in Imola! Great defensive driving from Charles. It’s nice when you cant just DRS past the car in front isn’t it?

    I think the Stewarding was spot on. Well done Derek Warwick.

  20. Gave it a 7, although Charles’ excellent win bodes well for the rest of the season.
    A star is born?

  21. 10 out of 10.
    Great drive by Leclerc defending from both Mercedes drivers especially in the second stint after the pit stops with the slower tyre (hard). It was a very tense battle that lasted till the checkered flag. To be honest, in normal conditions I would have gave it 9 or an 8 out of 10 but since it’s Monza and a Ferrari has just won (very unusual in this decade) with a future superstar. So, it must be a 10/10.

  22. Stewarding was awful, but otherwise really nice race.
    8 from me

  23. Ricciardo continues to prove why he is one of the best in f1 by continually dominating Hulkenberg who is a great driver

  24. 8/10. It was quite a tense entertaining race. A great drive by Leclerc but I think he was a little lucky with the stewards decisions. Especially with the first defence from Hamilton.

    I am not sure if this had been somewhere other than Italy, the decisions would have been the same. However he did do well to defend his position and it was quite nice to see Ferrari getting their win on home soil.

  25. This is so awesome. F1 is back I hope. The last few races have been super exciting. My fingers are sooo crossed that the trend stays.

    1. Yes, by my reckoning 6 great races in a row!

  26. Another crazy nail biter. I was hoping Valtteri would be able to hang on long enough to do to Leclerc what Vettel did to Hamilton last week. Fans who have attended the last six races have certainly gotten their money’s worth. Except on Saturday afternoon!

  27. Why do I keep getting this message: Duplicate comment detected; it looks as though you’ve already said that! As far as I’m aware it’s impossible to post the same comment twice in a row.

  28. I was a bit undecided but gave it 9, there was no rain, but it had almost all: several sudden failures, mistakes, so unpredictable stuff, a great battle for the lead lasting almost all the race, some kind of comeback drive, however very few of those passes were shown and it probably lacked the kind of insane midfield action to give it 10, but still a great, tense monza race, even better than last year’s edition.

  29. Fight for lead: checked
    Drama for favourites: checked
    Penalties: checked
    On track fights: checked
    Strategy battle: checked

    From this perspective Monza had almost everything, but just not that much of everything. So I gave a strong 8, all in all it is far above from an ordinary Monza.

  30. Imagine if Lewis Hamilton wasn’t around. We would have had a processional GP with Leclerc running lights to flag and Bottas maybe hovering 1-3 seconds behind him at best but doing f all else. Yet people want to denigrate this great man and celebrate some really dirty driving on Leclerc’s part which is fine, it was exciting and a Ferrari win at Monza is exciting stuff but it wouldn’t have been half the thriller it was without Lewis Hamilton.

    That he congratulated him first and refused to be drawn on the poor standard of defence at some points means his detractors should be very, very afraid of the rest of the season. He is going to beast it.

  31. I really enjoyed it. Genuine fight for the lead and Leclerc at 21 did a great job of keeping the Mercs behind (I won’t get into the rights and wrongs of that defence but it was fun to watch nonetheless).

    I also enjoyed quali, for the sheer fact I had never seen anything like it in the last 35 years of watching F1

    Can we have a rate the tv coverage column though? Again, there were some appalling cuts at key moments, such as Vettel’s spin. I can understand missing the start of an incident but cutting away is unforgivable, particularly to a crowd reaction shot!

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