The event marked the 75th running of the Italian Grand Prix as a championship round and the 74th time Monza hosted a Formula One race. Ahead of the weekend, the Monza Circuit underwent significant changes: the entire track was resurfaced and the DRS zone leading into turn 1 was extended by 103 metres. An unusual incident occurred on 29 August when the safety car, driven by Bernd Mayländer with Richard Darker as passenger, crashed off the circuit at turn 11 during a track reconnaissance run; neither occupant was injured.
Going into the weekend, Max Verstappen led the Drivers' Championship with 295 points, 70 points clear of Lando Norris and 103 ahead of Charles Leclerc. In the Constructors' Championship, Red Bull Racing led with 434 points, followed by McLaren on 404 and Ferrari on 370.
A significant driver change shaped the event: Franco Colapinto replaced Logan Sargeant at Williams from this race onwards, making his Formula One debut. Williams had brought Colapinto in from Formula 2, dropping Sargeant due to underperformance. Mercedes also fielded Kimi Antonelli in the first free practice session in place of George Russell, marking Antonelli's Formula One practice debut.
Pirelli supplied the C3, C4, and C5 compounds — the three softest in their range — designated as hard, medium, and soft respectively.
Three practice sessions were held across Friday and Saturday. Max Verstappen topped the opening session ahead of Leclerc and Norris, though the session was briefly halted when debutant Antonelli spun at turn 11 and struck the barriers. Lewis Hamilton led the second session ahead of Norris and Carlos Sainz Jr., and then topped the third session ahead of George Russell and Leclerc.
In qualifying, McLaren locked out the front row for the first time at Monza since 2012, with Norris on pole and Piastri alongside him.
The 53-lap race started at 15:00 local time under hot conditions, with the track surface reaching 52.2 degrees Celsius. Fourteen drivers began on medium tyres, while the remaining six chose the hard compound.
Norris held the lead off the starting line, but at the second chicane on the opening lap, Piastri performed an unexpected overtake on his teammate, forcing Norris to lose momentum and allowing Leclerc to pass him as well. Piastri led, Leclerc was second, and Norris fell to third.
George Russell locked up on the opening straight and ran through the turn one run-off area, damaging his front wing and losing four positions to rejoin in seventh. Nico Hülkenberg was forced off the track and into a gravel trap by Daniel Ricciardo; both cars continued, but Ricciardo was issued a five-second time penalty and one penalty point. Four laps later, Hülkenberg locked up at turn 1 and collided with Yuki Tsunoda's car, causing damage to both. Hülkenberg pitted on lap 6 to switch to hard tyres and replace his front wing; Tsunoda retired a lap later with floor damage from the collision. Hülkenberg subsequently received a ten-second penalty and two penalty points.
Leclerc stopped early to run the hard tyres on a one-stop strategy, a decision he initially questioned on team radio. However, as McLaren and other competitors made their stops, Leclerc cycled into the lead and ran his hard tyres to the end of the race. Sainz briefly overcut the McLarens during their pit stop windows but ultimately lost the positions back to them.
Leclerc won ahead of Piastri and Norris, with Norris also recording the fastest lap of the race. The victory was Leclerc's seventh career win and Ferrari's first at their home circuit since 2019 — the previous occasion also won by Leclerc.
Colapinto finished twelfth on his debut, having qualified eighteenth. After the race, Kevin Magnussen of Haas received penalty points for a collision with Pierre Gasly. The points pushed Magnussen over the 12-point threshold for a rolling 12-month period, earning him a one-race ban from the following 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
The race reinforced McLaren's pace advantage at power-sensitive circuits had limits, as a strategic call rather than raw speed determined the outcome at Monza. Leclerc's win reignited Ferrari's championship hopes and demonstrated that a well-executed one-stop strategy on the resurfaced Monza layout could overcome a superior qualifying position. Franco Colapinto's debut was widely praised, setting the stage for his run through the remainder of the 2024 season with Williams.
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