MONZA, Italy — Charles Leclerc took a stunning victory for Ferrari at the Italian Grand Prix, beating the McLarens thanks to a perfectly executed strategy.

Leclerc stopped one less time than the faster McLarens and was able to keep his set of tyres at home, much to the delight of Monza. tifosi.

As Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris chased him in the closing stages, Leclerc’s car was greeted increasingly loudly by the crowd.

But the loudest sound came when he crossed the chequered flag: Ferrari’s first victory on home soil since Leclerc took the win here in 2019.

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“Mamma mia! Mamma mia!” Leclerc said on the radio as he crossed the finish line.

“I want to win Monza and Monaco every year and I managed to do it. It’s so, so special.”

Leclerc had an 11-second lead with seven laps to go and an 8.3-second lead with five laps to go. He eventually crossed the finish line 2.664 seconds ahead.

The two McLaren drivers, who occupied the front row of the grid, had to settle for second and third place.

Piastri said afterwards: “Yes, it hurts, I’m not going to lie, it hurts a lot.”

Curiously, McLaren did not enforce the team orders to drop Piastri for Norris, thus losing valuable seven points in the title race to Max Verstappen, who finished no higher than sixth for Red Bull.

Norris did manage to secure the extra point for fastest lap, but given McLaren’s pace this weekend it feels like a missed opportunity.

“We considered doing just one stop the whole race, but that wasn’t possible because of the amount of (tyre) grit I had,” said Norris, who started the day 70 points behind Verstappen and was hoping to score many more.

“We are disappointed, but Ferrari drove a better race.”

McLaren could also have taken the lead in the constructors’ championship, but still ended the day eight points behind Red Bull, down from 30 points earlier.

Max Verstappen finished sixth, reducing the lead in the drivers’ championship to 62.

Carlos Sainz was fourth for Ferrari and future Italian driver Lewis Hamilton was fifth for Mercedes.

George Russell was seventh for Mercedes, while Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was eighth and Alex Albon took valuable points for Williams in ninth.

Kevin Magnussen finished 10th for Haas despite a 10-second penalty for causing a collision. He is expected to receive a one-race ban for accumulating too many penalty points.