Leclerc assesses Ferrari’s prospects for home race as Sainz reflects on ‘emotional’ last Monza event with the team

Charles Leclerc is feeling cautiously optimistic about what Ferrari can achieve at their home event, the Italian Grand Prix, while Carlos Sainz expects an emotional weekend ahead as he prepares for his last race at Monza as a Scuderia driver.

Leclerc will enter into Round 16 off the back of a decent run of results, having scored podiums at the last two Grands Prix in Belgium and the Netherlands. However, the Monegasque is not getting carried away by this in terms of his expectations for the race in Italy.

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“I don't let the last two races change our expectations,” said Leclerc. “We are in a difficult moment for the team. We are struggling a little bit with pace at the moment.

“I think we understood quite a few things since Zandvoort, especially on what happened on Saturday, where our performance was quite far from ideal. But on the Sunday, it was a good race. In Spa it was good as well.

“Here, it should be a bit more in the direction of Spa, so hopefully we'll be a bit more in the fight for the podium. However, for the win, I don't think we quite have that yet.”

On a weekend where the team will run upgrades on the SF-24, Leclerc was quizzed on how hopeful he felt about the car’s performance in low downforce.

“I think we are in a better position than on a higher downforce track,” the 26-year-old answered. “So it should be a bit better. How much better, it's still to be seen.

“We'll also have some upgrades on the car which should go in the right direction, so hopefully when we put everything together, we are closer than where we were in the last few races.”

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Ferrari have enjoyed plenty of success at Monza over the years, with the squad sharing some memorable celebrations with the Tifosi at the track. While Leclerc has denied that there is a sense that the team must perform better at their home event, he acknowledged that racing there provides them with an extra drive.

“I wouldn't say the feeling is that we must do better,” Leclerc explained. “However, there's definitely a huge motivation because it's not only a normal weekend that starts from the Thursday to the Sunday, but it starts already from Monday in Maranello where we have so many Tifosi, and that obviously motivates everybody.

“It seems and it looks like we've had a pretty strong car with a very low-downforce package even in the last few years where performance was not as good. That's positive, because it's our home race and as much as it's giving exactly the same amount of points as other races, emotionally speaking and for the whole team it's definitely a special one.

“So it's really important for everybody to do well. However, we are not doing anything different to perform better at this track. It just happened that our low downforce package in the last few years was pretty good and whenever we came here, we were on the good side of our performances.”

For Sainz, the event will mark his final one in Italy as a Ferrari driver before he departs for Williams in 2025 and the Spaniard is keen to soak up the atmosphere.

“Obviously an emotional weekend for me, but more than anything just trying to enjoy it as much as possible and to embrace every second of it because it’s a pretty cool thing to be a Ferrari driver in Monza,” said Sainz.

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“Trying to be as present as possible and enjoy every moment. I think we need to wait to see the new track, the new tarmac, the upgrades. See where we are Friday and then decide whether we are going to fight for pole position and the win, or whether we are going to fight for podium or top five or top eight. Only time will tell.”

In terms of whether the upgrades will help the team to move closer to McLaren, Sainz responded: “I think McLaren is clearly a team to beat. They’ve proven in the last few races they are the fastest car on track. The rest of us, we are trying to put all these upgrades that sometimes work, sometimes don’t.

“The only ones who seem to know exactly how to put an upgrade on and make it work is McLaren right now. The other ones, we’re trying to find our way. We’re going to try and do that this weekend and hopefully that can give us a bit of extra performance.”