After recent renovations, the hills of Monza are alive once again with the sound of turbocharged V6s and the cheering tifosi as the Italian Grand Prix rolled into the legendary circuit. While papaya orange showed domination against navy blue, everyone physically and spiritually showed up in rosso corsa for the home team.

1. The Bulls were bent out of shape. Following the Dutch Grand Prix, Red Bull Racing showed a lack of form resulting in Max Verstappen finishing in P6, followed by Sergio Perez in P8.

The leading constructor entered the weekend with poor qualifying and race results after its lead driver noted powertrain issues that didn’t help with the pit strategy. Even Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes-AMG) had no problem passing his 2021 rival on the latter laps.

2. The other Bulls were also bent out of shape. The VCARB boys also encountered trouble after both of its drivers exchanged bodywork with Nico Hulkenberg (Haas).

The opening lap saw Daniel Ricciardo (VCARB) earn a five-second time penalty after making contact with the German driver after closing his gap before the Variante Ascari. The Aussie’s punishment was made worse after a mechanic prematurely touched his front wing deeming his penalty null and void, resulting in an additional 10 seconds in his time and a P13 finish.

Meanwhile, on the fifth lap, the Hulk smashed into Yuki Tsunoda (VCARB) at the first bus stop corner, where he was given a 10-second time penalty while causing the Japanese to retire early in the race.

3. The fresh rookie had a promising first race. Williams’s new face Franco Colapinto was recently promoted to F1, and apart from a gravel run in free practice, he started in P18 and left Monza incident-free in P12.

Rising six places was no easy feat for the Argentine driver relying on a simulator to get to grips with the FW46 and driving longer laps than in his Formula 2 stints.

On the other end of the Williams garage, Alex Albon finished in an impressive P9, garnering points for the team.

4. Papaya almost ruled the race. The first lap already had McLaren at the edge of its seat with an early battle for first between its two drivers. Lando Norris started on pole and fought to maintain his position until his teammate Oscar Piastri swooped into the lead at Turn 4.

After that move, the team brought up the “Papaya Rules” allowing both drivers to race without drama. Despite this push, the tire degradation didn’t bring confidence for a one-stop strategy, reeling in a P2 for Piastri and a P3 for Norris.

5. The tifosi had a reason to celebrate. Sans the Monaco Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) did not have an eventful 2024 up to last weekend, finishing in third on four occasions. This time, the home team nailed the tire strategy with a one-stop affair hoping for a 1-2 finish in front of its backyard fans.

Unfortunately, Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) couldn’t fend off McLaren’s pace despite the papaya cars’ two-stop decision. Nevertheless, the Monégasque had the groove and the three-second gap to take the victory for the tifosi like it was 2019.

While we want to believe that this could be a sign that Ferrari is back, its gap to McLaren is nowhere near as close as McLaren is to Red Bull. The circus will move to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on September 15 (9pm, Philippine time).

However, Kevin Magnussen (Haas) won’t be seen by then after serving a 10-second penalty from a collision with Pierre Gasly (Alpine). As a result, the Dane also racked up 12 penalty points in total, bagging one race ban.