Charles Leclerc is hoping for a clean, straightforward race at Monza. The Ferrari driver is starting the race from pole position and will be hoping to secure a win for the passionate Tifosi fans cheering for the team in the grandstands.
Charles Leclerc was asked about what has become the weak point for Ferrari, its strategic shortcomings. The team has made far too many errors this season. The driver was asked if he had any concerns over the team's strategy unit heading into the race, to which Leclerc replied that every mistake is a learning opportunity and hence he was looking at a more straightforward race on Sunday. He said:
"Well, I think overall, after each mistake we learned from them and we try to be better as a team. It's not because we are here in Monza that it's more important than other races to not doing any mistakes. We need to become a team that does no mistakes wherever we go. So yeah, it is a special weekend for us but the target for us doesn't change. We just need to have a clean race and a good race. So yeah, we'll be targeting that, and let's see."
Charles Leclerc confident of holding on to the lead and winning the 2022 F1 Italian GP
Charles Leclerc even drew parallels with his win at the same track in 2019. At the time, Leclerc was still in his first year with Ferrari. The youngster scored pole position ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas, and Sebastian Vettel. In the race, he fended off the advances of Lewis Hamilton and clinched Ferrari's first win on the track since 2010.
Talking about that race, Leclerc revealed that he felt far more confident in this year's race and felt he could fend off Max Verstappen in the race. He said:
"I think more the experience that I gained from 2019 to now will be more helpful than the experience in 2019. I was a very, very different driver, struggling a lot in races at the time and now I'm in a much better place. So yeah, in 2019 I was not so confident going into the race. This year, it's better and honestly the feeling was really good on the high fuel. So it's not going to be easy because for sure Max will be extremely quick and will be coming back but I'm sure that we can make this work."
Charles Leclerc will be starting the race in pole position with George Russell in his Mercedes alongside him. Max Verstappen will be starting the race in P7.