Are the Prancing Horse a dark horse at home? Five Italian GP talking points

One of the cornerstones of the world championship, this weekend sees the historic Monza circuit host the Italian Grand Prix for the 74th time.

Known for the two ‘S’s – speed and the Scuderia – one of the most famous and beloved circuits on the calendar will have a slightly different look to it this weekend for the 15th grand prix of the 2024 season.

With major driver market news expected and a champion set to be crowned at the venue, this will likely be a memorable weekend both on and off the track…

Ferrari a dark horse?

Although the second of Ferrari’s home races this season, Monza has always been the circuit most synonymous with the team.

Last year was a memorable weekend for Ferrari as well as for team principal Frederic Vasseur in his first Italian Grand Prix leading the team. Although they were beaten by Red Bull in the race, Carlos Sainz Jnr had secured a memorable pole position on Saturday and then emerged victorious from a thrilling late duel with team mate Charles Leclerc to claim the final podium place.

Ferrari have appeared to be just a little behind their rivals over last few months, but they are by no means out of contention as Leclerc demonstrated last weekend in Zandvoort by taking an excellent podium finish in third behind Lando Norris and Max Verstappen. The coming races should, in theory, be stronger ones for Ferrari – including Monza – and a set of upgrades for this weekend will certainly not harm the team’s prospects.

“Until the upgrades, I always said that the priority for us was just to do damage limitation,” Leclerc said after Sunday’s race. “Now I just hope that the upgrades helps us to do a step forward.”

Hamilton’s tofosi

This weekend will be Sainz’s fourth and last in a Ferrari, making it especially poignant for the driver who has enjoyed 21 podiums, five pole positions and three grand prix victories with the team in that time.

The Tifosi have always seemed to appreciate Sainz’s efforts for the team alongside Leclerc over recent years, with his pole and appearance on the podium here last year an obvious highlight of his tenure. With this being his last Monza weekend in scarlet before he moves to Williams for 2025, a similar result this weekend would be a fantastic means of celebrating his time with the sport’s most famous team.

But what will be more interesting will be the reception that Sainz’s replacement for next season – Lewis Hamilton – will receive. The news that the seven-times world champion will move to Maranello next season was one of the biggest driver move announcements in the sport’s history. And with Hamilton taking two victories so far this season to break his win drought, the prospect of him in a Ferrari has only become more intriguing.

However, Hamilton has not always had the respect of the Tifosi at Monza. The Mercedes driver has been booed after winning this race before, notably in 2018 during his championship battle with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel – but it seems highly unlikely that he will receive the same reception this weekend.

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Enter Antonelli

This weekend could become one that will be looked back on many times in the future as being a major milestone moment in the career of one of the most exciting young driver prospects in the sport’s history.

Mercedes junior driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli will make his first appearance in a grand prix weekend when he steps into George Russell’s W15 to participate in Friday’s first practice session. The F2 racer, who turned 18 years old on Sunday, has arguably been the most impressive young racing talent since Verstappen. Just like the current world champion who debuted in practice for the Japanese Grand Prix a decade ago, Antonelli will make his first appearance in the world championship on Friday.

The Italian prospect is also widely expected to be confirmed as Hamilton’s replacement for 2025 – where better to announce it than at his home grand prix? Antonelli has already had several outings in a Formula 1 car this season, but this will be the first time he gets behind the wheel of the team’s 2024 car. After the session, he will have to immediately jump back into his F2 car for qualifying as the junior series will be racing alongside F1 once again this weekend.

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Reprofiled Rettifilo

What could be generously described as an ‘awkward’ first corner and ungenerously described as ‘the worst first corner in Formula 1’, the Rettifilo chicane that splits Monza’s famous pit straight in two has been the scene of many collisions since its introduction in 2000.

The very narrow, very slow right-left sequence may offer one of the most extreme braking moments in the sport and provide a clear overtaking opportunity, but with F1’s biggest and heaviest cars the Rettifilo chicane has long been ill-suited to the world championship. However, this year, that may no longer be the case.

The notorious chicane has received its most major reprofiling in almost a quarter of a century. Widened at the entrance to the first right kink and widened for the left kink too, the chicane now has far more room to accommodate multiple cars side-by-side – which should reduce the probability of carnage at race starts for all categories as well as F1.

Beyond Rettifilo, the track has received a resurfacing in several areas. Kerbs have also been made wider and flatter in some corners, most particularly at the Ascari chicane. As a result of these changes, cornering speeds should be slightly faster than last year’s weekend, certainly at the first chicane. But what that means for the quality of racing remains to be seen.

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Formula 3 finale

While a lot of attention this weekend will be on Formula 2 driver Antonelli in what will likely be one of the biggest weekends of his life, this will also be a memorable three days for one of several Formula 3 drivers who will be crowned series champion on Sunday.

Trident driver Leonardo Fornaroli sits atop the standings heading into the final two races, but he is just one point ahead of Alpine junior and fellow Italian Gabriele Mini. Williams prospect Luke Browning also has a strong chance of taking the title, just six points behind Fornaroli, will Red Bull junior Arvid Lindblad lies just 10 points behind him.

This year’s F3 championship has been as highly competitive as ever, with 11 winners from the 18 races so far. With Monza offering plenty of opportunities to overtake, it is shaping up to be a thrilling finale to the F3 season at the circuit once again.

One noteworthy difference for this weekend compared to most rounds is that following some unsavoury scenes of traffic jams in last year’s qualifying session here, the series has decided to split qualifying into two groups for the final round. Just like in Monaco, the grid will be determined by the fastest overall time, with the two groups of 15 then interlinked with the drivers in the pole winners group occupying the left side of the grid in order and the other group lined up on the right of the grid.

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Are you going to the Italian Grand Prix?

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