As it happened: 2024 Italian Grand Prix

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The 2024 Italian Grand Prix is coming up next.

Teams have played a conservative game when it comes to tyre strategy for this race on the newly-surfaced track. Almost all of them go into today’s race with the same range of rubber available – Aston Martin have been scrubbing their rubber in as usual:

The final starting grid for today’s race has been confirmed with no changes.

The drivers are heading to the grid. Lando Norris is given feedback on his practice start: “Launch feedback. You were on target. Bring the throttle a little earlier.”

The conditions are sunny and warm but Alexander Albon is worried about a storm he’s seen to the north-east. There is some heavy rain to the north but the clouds dropping it aren’t moving at the moment.

The track temperature is already a scorching 54C. It’s a long run down to turn one and any drivers who risk starting on the soft can expect to gain 0.8 metres compared to those on softs in ther acceleration to 150kph alone, according to Pirelli. The hard loses 4.06m over the same distance so expect to see only those at the very back starting on that.

According to race control the risk of rain for the race is 40%. However that was also the case for qualifying at Zandvoort eight days ago, and it stayed dry.

The top six drivers are starting on the medium tyre compound. The Red Bulls are starting on hards. The only other drivers on hards instead of mediums are Ocon, Tsunoda, Stroll and Bottas.

The cars have headed off on their formation lap, led by Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown has said his drivers are “free to race” as they seek to do some damage to Red Bull and Max Verstappen’s leads in the championships.

Franco Colapinto is very slow on the formation lap, a long way behind Stroll.

L1 The race is go! Norris keeps the lead out of Rettifilo but Piastri passes him at Roggia. Leclerc gets him at the exit. Russell went off at Rettifilo and has front wing damage from hitting the last of the polystyrene markers.

Verstappen is accusing Hamilton of failing to leave him a car’s width. Red Bull tell him they’re satisfied his car isn’t damaged.

Wood: “It’s been reported, overtake available.”
Perez: “George has a lot of damage, it’s dangerous.”

Ricciardo put Hulkenberg on the grass approaching Ascari. The stewards have noted the incident.

L6 At the front, the top four have pulled out of DRS range of Hamilton.

Now Hulkenberg hits Tsunoda at Rettifilo and the stewards have noted that as well. Both look like fairly straightforward penalty calls.

L7 The DRS train at the front is breaking up. Leclerc is within range of Piastri but Norris is not close enough to Leclerc to open his wing.

Hamilton: “There’s no way we can hold this pace.”
Stallard: “Oscar we don’t see graining on any tyres yet. We need to get to at least Plan B target lap.”

Desiderio to Tsunoda: “Box to the retire the car.”
Lambiase to Verstappen: “Just keep it there for the moment, Max. Let them push that medium tyre hard.”

Ricciardo unsurprisingly gets a five-second time penalty for squeezing Hulkenberg, while the Haas driver gets 10 seconds for his collision with Tsunoda.

L11 Perez easily passes Russell with DRS. It’s closer between Magnussen and Ricciardo as the Haas driver gets by at Rettifilo.

L12 Piastri said he prefers “plan A” on the previous lap, but Russell is in for his first pit stop. Mercedes give him a new front wing.

L13 Piastri has now pulled out a 2.4s lead over Leclerc. Norris is edging back towards the Ferrari and is just 1.1s behind now. Sainz another 3.1s down.

L15 Norris pits – he was closing on the Ferrari ahead of him and encouraged to do a “box to overtake on Leclerc”.

For the first time in a long time, Hamilton has just been told “it’s Hammertime”.

L16 Leclerc and Hamilton pit. Piastri stays out. Norris has easily jumped ahead of Leclerc. Piastri is told to pit. Sainz: “These guys will struggle to go to the end.”

L17 Piastri pits two laps after Norris and keeps his lead. Leclerc is unimpressed: “What was that? Why did we pit if we were undercut?” He’s told the Red Bulls are sdowing graining on their hards.

A horrible day gets worse for RB: Ricciardo is under investigation for failing to serve his time penalty correctly. And the penalty has come very swiftly: He’s given a 10-second sanction.

Joseph to Norris: “Lando it’s likely we will have to cover for the other car. It will be papaya rules.”

Piastri is also told McLaren have observed front-left graining on the Red Bull. Meanwhile Verstappen has a big twitch after understeering into the gravel at Lesmo 2.

L20 Sainz pits and rejoins ahead of Hamilton.

A worrying moment for Magnussen: He tangled with Gasly at the Roggia. Magnussen is already on 10 penalty points and if he gets a penalty will be at risk of hitting the 12 which would trigger an automatic penalty.

Joseph to Norris: “You are allowed to race Oscar. Papaya rules.”

Verstappen punches the steering wheel in frustration as he leaves the pits after a slow pit stop. Red Bull put him on another set of hards so he will have to pit again later in the race.

Magnussen has been given a 10-second time penalty. No word yet on his penalty points situation but it doesn’t look good.

Magnussen is not happy with his penalty: “Neither cars have damage. No consequence at all. Ten seconds. Makes sense.”

L30 Piastri has a 2.5s lead over Norris now, who has Leclerc 2s behind him. Sainz, another 12s behind, has tyres that are five laps fresher than his team mate’s.

L31 Mistake by Norris: Leclerc is on his tail in the fight for second. Piastri now has a 4.9 seconds lead.

Russell goes off at Rettifilo as he attacks Perez. He rejoins, lets the Red Bull by, then chases him into Roggia. “What is he doing?” says Perez. “He gives me the position then he races me?”

L33 Norris makes his second pit stop with 20 laps to go. He takes another set of hards but it’s a slow stop due to a problem at the front-right of the car.

L34 Russell pits in an attempt to undercut Perez but his stop is slow as well. He was told to “box opposite Perez”.

L38 Hamilton pits. Piastri is asked if he thinks they can run to the end without pitting and he says “I don’t think so.”

L39 Piastri pits. Russell touches the grass approaching Rettifilo as Perez attempts to get him behind. Russell makes it through.

Leclerc is told his team mate is considering Plan B – which is likely to be not pitting again – and they are too.

L40 Verstappen asked if he can have more performance from his engine. That’s because Norris is now all over him. He can’t get by for now though.

L41 Norris gets Verstappen with DRS next time by. Now the race is all about whether Ferrari can make their tyres last and take a one-two at home – or whether they’ll be caught by the fresh-tyres McLarens before then.

L42 Verstappen pits, no problem this time.

L43 Stallard tells Piastri that Sainz is starting to get “major graining.” Piastri is taking 1.7s per lap out of him.

Sainz: “Yeah my front left is nearly gone but I guess we try.” There’s only eight laps to go so this could win it for his team mate if he holds Piastri off long enough.

L45 Piastri easily passes Sainz with DRS approaching Ascari. He has eight laps to close down an 11.6s deficit to Leclerc.

L48 Norris blasts past Sainz long before the braking zone for Rettifilo with his DRS open. He’s up into third. Meanwhile Piastri has Leclerc’s lead down to 8.9s.

L50 Leclerc has a 7.5s lead over Piastri with four laps to go, unless something goes wrong with his tyres he should be home safe.

Chequered flag: Charles Leclerc wins the Italian Grand Prix for Ferrari!

Norris takes the fastest lap on the final lap for a consolation bonus point.

A frustrating final lap for Aston Martin: Alonso was 0.1s away from beating Magnussen to the final point after the Haas driver’s penalty. Stroll put on a set of soft tyres in a bid to take the fastest lap but was beaten by Norris on his worn hards.

That concludes our live coverage of the Italian Grand Prix. Here’s our race report.

2024 Italian Grand Prix

• Verstappen faces post-race investigation along with five other drivers and McLaren
• Red Bull lose constructors’ championship lead for first time in two years
• “Never had so much pain in a car”: How Colapinto impressed Williams on his debut
• F1’s most competitive season for 47 years? Four teams now have three wins each
• “Can I have my PU performance back?” – Verstappen’s “tough” Monza race on his radio