Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix Prediction: Ferrari is feeling good in Italy

Monza is one of the oldest tracks in the Formula 1 World Championship calendar. Its history dates back to 1922, when it hosted the Italian Grand Prix for the first time. The original configuration of the trail stretched over ten kilometers, of which one section is quite similar to the present-day appearance of the trail. It is one of the four tracks in this year's calendar that were part of the inaugural season of the Formula 1 World Championship in 1950, and since then it has only been left out of the calendar once. It was 1980 when the race for the Italian Grand Prix was held in Imola. The old track with a length of ten kilometers was used for races in the fifties before the organizers decided to improve the track due to several fatal accidents that happened on this track. At Monza, Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton are the most successful in terms of number of victories, each with five. The most successful team is Ferrari, whose drivers have won 19 times on home soil. Their last victory was achieved by Charles Leclerc in 2019. Sebastian Vettel began his journey to stardom in Italy, winning for the first time in his career to become the youngest winner at the time.

Ciao a tutti! Saturday's main event in Monza for the Italian GP, qualifying, is behind us. After three training sessions, the home Tifosi had high expectations from the boys in red, and especially from Carlos Sainz, who was the fastest in the second and third training session. In the end, Carlos Sainz did not disappoint the Tifosi - he was the fastest in qualifying ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen in second place and teammate Charles Leclerc in third place! A good fourth was Mercedes' George Russell, and a slightly disappointing fifth was Red Bull's Sergio Perez, three tenths of a second slower than his teammate. He will share the third row with the excellent sixth Alexander Albon in Williams. Oscar Piastri in McLaren had the seventh qualifying time. Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton is not at all satisfied with the eighth time. The fifth starting row in the race will be shared by the ninth Lando Norris in McLaren and the tenth Fernando Alonso in Aston Martin.

Max Verstappen will have to start from second place for his tenth and Red Bull's 15th consecutive victory, after losing pole position to Carlos Sainz by just 13 thousandths of a second. But despite being sandwiched between the two Ferraris, Verstappen is optimistic about Sunday's race as he believes the RB19 has a better race pace than the Ferrari. Sainz and Leclerc are well positioned and can work together to prevent Verstappen from setting that record of ten consecutive wins. However, it should be borne in mind that it will be difficult to stop the Dutchman during the 53 laps of the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, given the powerful race pace of the RB19 car.

After a disappointing weekend at Zandvoort, Ferrari arrived at Monza with more confidence and a clear goal. But, home races don't change performance, but they do infuse the team with much-needed enthusiasm, even if they are aware of their limits. At high downforce circuits such as Zandvoort or Budapest, the SF-23 clearly showed its weak points, although in reality internal expectations for the Hungaroring had Ferrari fighting even for pole position. The tests completed at the first session of the Dutch GP helped to better outline and understand the problems affecting the car with the heavier configuration.

OUR PREDICTION: Charles Leclerc podium finish