Formula 1 | Hakkinen identifies Ferrari’s two big challenges

Charles Leclerc on pole on Saturday, Max Verstappen winner on Sunday: this scenario happened at Monza and for the Italian public, had a bitter taste of bis repetita.

Mika Hakkinen makes the same observation: he feels that Monza has summed up the second half of the season in his face.

“This weekend was a good example of how this season has gone – Charles qualified on pole position but Max won the race. »

« Charles’ Ferrari is fast, in fact when you think he’s had 8 pole positions – half the races – he can really get the performance out of his car over a lap. Max has only made pole position four times, but his race pace is just too fast and consistent, the car has such good straight-line speed. We saw him in Belgium where he won from 14th on the grid, and here at Monza he was able to do it from 7th – and make it look easy. »

“As a driver you really want to have a fast race car, not a lap car. I think Ferrari did a great job with Charles, they tried a different strategy from Red Bull, but Max kept coming. »

“It’s his fifth victory in a row, he’s won every Grand Prix since France, and Red Bull has really taken the lead. I think he will celebrate his second world championship in Singapore or Japan at the beginning of October, unless there is an incident or a reliability problem. »

If Ferrari performed better than expected all the same at Monza, the pressure remains intense on the shoulders of Mattia Binotto, the team manager. But doesn’t the Scuderia need stability especially for Mika Hakkinen?

“Ferrari have always had a lot of pressure and that’s something unique to them. Of course, at McLaren we felt the pressure to compete to win, to do our best, to not be satisfied if we don’t win, but Ferrari always had this added pressure to be a kind of national team. . »

“There is always this feeling of added pressure, and it must not be easy for the leaders or the pilots who must continue to work hard, to push each other and to make sure that they do not start to blame each other when things go wrong. It’s interesting to see the comments from the Ferrari president, especially in public, as it adds even more pressure on the team. »

The Nyck de Vries feat

The driver most highlighted during this Grand Prix, besides Max Verstappen, was certainly Nyck de Vries: the Williams driver climbed into his single-seater at the last minute, and managed a small feat, beating the holder Nicholas Latifi by a wide margin, and bringing back 2 points for Grove.

“I thought it was a great performance because it’s never easy to jump into another car, especially in the middle of a race weekend. »

“To debut like this, driving for two teams in one weekend, was just awesome. We expected him to back down during the race because the Williams isn’t very competitive, but he did a really good job, avoiding mistakes and getting a really solid result. Suddenly the Netherlands have two really competitive F1 drivers! »

Too frustrating a safety car?

The fishtail end of the race relieved Nyck de Vries, who was physically exhausted! But wasn’t Mika Hakkinen one of the frustrated spectators to see a Grand Prix end under a safety car? What can be done in the future to avoid this kind of problem?

“It was very disappointing for fans and viewers to see the race end behind a safety car. However, the FIA ​​must put safety first and the stewards collected Daniel Ricciardo’s car which needed to be protected, so that was the most important thing. »

“It would be great to find ways to avoid this kind of outcome in the future. But everything has to be done in a way that strikes the balance between having an entertaining race and keeping everyone involved safe. Sometimes these decisions are very difficult to make, but I can understand the disappointment of losing those last laps behind a safety car. »