The "50 cent coin" disaster risk that kept McLaren off the best Monza strategy

A famous Italian Grand Prix victory for Ferrari and Charles Leclerc resulted from superbly executing a one-stop strategy, which proved marginally faster than the two-stop approach favoured by McLaren. That Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris ended up as the pursuers in a race McLaren looked set to dominate resulted from a dire warning in practice

A contentious lap-one pass at the della Roggia chicane that had a Formula 1 title hopeful facing already slim chances in a proper pickle. The weekend’s fastest team eating into its tyres through the Italian Grand Prix and snatching defeat when victory was surely possible.

But unlike in the 2018 Monza race, Ferrari came out on top. This time, it was McLaren struggling to understand just how it had lost what looked to be a commanding position exiting the Rettifilo chicane on lap one with a secure 1-2. At this stage, not even eventual winner Charles Leclerc thought a second Monza victory for Ferrari was possible.

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Author Alex Kalinauckas

Alex Kalinauckas is Autosport's Grand Prix Editor, covering every Formula 1 race since the start of 2020. After completing a master's degree in journalism at Goldsmiths College University of London in 2014, he worked for a range of motorsport and technology publications while covering national racing as an Autosport freelancer.

A lifelong motorsport fan - no one in his family can explain quite how or why such a development first occurred - Alex joined the Autosport staff in April 2017 as the magazine’s Assistant Editor covering Formula 2 and GP3, before being made Formula E correspondent and Autosport.com’s Plus Editor in March 2018. He lives in north-east London and is constantly frustrated by the Central Line.