TEN OUT OF TEN FOR VERSTAPPEN AS HE WINS AGAIN IN MONZA

Max Verstappen won the Formula 1 Pirelli Gran Premio d’Italia 2023, taking the chequered flag ahead of team-mate Sergio Perez, to give Red Bull its 28^th one-two finish. Max took his tenth consecutive win, a Formula 1 record, as well as his second Italian Grand Prix victory in a row. Joining them on the podium was the pole-sitter Carlos Sainz, with his team-mate Charles Leclerc finishing fourth.

Apart from the top three drivers and the Red Bull team representative, another star of the prizegiving was Typhon, the trophy created by Italian artist Ruth Beraha, inspired both by Greek mythology as well as the shape of the exhaust pipes on a Formula 1 car. Typhon is a mythological figure – the giant son of Gaia – who is traditionally characterised by his extraordinary strength and a hundred snakes wrapped around his head, symbolising a shocking personification of nature.

The 2023 Formula 1 Pirelli Gran Premio d’Italia trophy was commissioned by Pirelli and contemporary art space Pirelli HangarBicocca. It represents a fusion between an idea from the artist and a production process that unites cutting-edge technology and robotics such as 3D cutting and production, as well as the work of craftsmen specialised in welding, polishing, assembly, and gilding. The end result is reminiscent of the art from the finest goldsmiths.

MARIO ISOLA - DIRECTOR PIRELLI MOTORSPORT   
 

“Even if Verstappen and Red Bull once again picked up all the points on offer, the Italian Grand Prix was truly spectacular with plenty of thrilling and close duels. Today’s track temperature was always above 40° C, which led to slightly higher tyre degradation. Despite this and even with a trio of compounds that were softer than last year’s, the drivers definitely did not have to worry about tyre management as could be seen from the many duels we witnessed, some going on for several laps. In terms of strategy, our predictions from yesterday were pretty much confirmed in the race. The one-stop was definitely the quickest and those who pitted earlier than the predicted window then had to make a second stop, except for the Williams duo, who once again proved to be particularly adept at tyre management.

Finally, I want to thank the crowd of hundreds of thousands of fans who packed out the grandstands at this historic circuit over the three days. This is our home race and, even if we are not competing with opponents on track, we feel part of the great show that is Formula 1, especially here at Monza.”

THE DAY ON TRACK   
 

The race evolved in a completely linear way with, as expected, two compounds, the Medium and Hard, playing their part. The Softs were not used at all. 17 drivers out of 20 chose to start on the C4, with just Hamilton, Bottas and Magnussen preferring the C3. Six drivers pitted twice, but in Piastri’s case that was because he had to come in to change the damaged front wing after an incident with Hamilton, while the other five (Gasly, Zhou, Lawson, Hulkenberg and Magnussen) chose this route as the drop in performance from their tyres was too high in the first stint. Of the three drivers who started on the Hard, Hamilton and Bottas finished higher than their grid position, two better for the English Mercedes driver and four for Alfa Romeo’s Finn. Magnussen however only made up one place because the two drivers ahead of him did not make it to the chequered flag.

Formula 2

The Prema team exerted a stranglehold on the penultimate round of the FIA Formula 2 Championship, winning the Sprint Race with Frederik Vesti, while Oliver Bearman was victorious in the Feature Race. The ART Grand Prix team also visited the podium on both days, with Victor Martins second on Saturday and Theo Pourchaire third on Sunday morning, to maintain his lead in the championship. The other two podium finishers were Richard Verschoor (VAR), third in the Sprint, and Ayumu Iwasa (DAMS), second in the Feature Race. Monza was also the backdrop to the presentation, put on mainly for the media and those involved in the category, of the new Formula 2 car that will be used as from next year, again fitted with 18” Pirelli tyres. As for tyre performance one can only really take into consideration Saturday’s Sprint, as today’s Feature Race was neutralised so often. The Medium showed very limited degradation, but that in no way affected the show on track. 

Formula 3

This year’s FIA Formula 3 Championship reached its conclusion this weekend, with Italian teams finishing in style. The Trident team’s Gabriel Bortoleto only needed the two points for pole position to secure the Drivers’ title. The Argentinian driver added to the celebrations with a second place in Saturday’s race behind Franco Colapinto (MP) and ahead of Mari Boya (MP). The teams’ title was not decided until Sunday morning with Prema getting the upper hand over Trident partly thanks to a second place for Zak O’Sullivan, enough to assign him the runner-up spot in the Drivers’ championship. The winner of the last race of the season was Jonny Edgar (MP) with Taylor Barnard completing the podium trio for the Jenzer team. This last round of the season made use of the Soft compound, which performed as expected, with an acceptable level of degradation, so that the drivers were able to push as much as they saw fit.

COMING UP NEXT FOR OUR F1 TYRES  
 

Monza marks the end of the European leg of the Formula 1 season, which moves on to Singapore in a fortnight’s time. The street circuit hosts the Singapore Grand Prix night race from 15 to 17 September and Pirelli will be supplying the C3, C4 and C5 compounds. 
Next week, Pirelli will be testing for two days on Tuesday and Wednesday both in Monza and at Fiorano. At the home of the Italian Grand Prix, the programme will focus on dry weather tyre development with Red Bull and Alpine, while on the Ferrari-owned track, the work centres on trying new solutions for rain tyres with the Scuderia.