Charles Leclerc won the Italian Grand Prix in a remarkable race for Ferrari at Monza. He took a gamble that paid off and made his one-stop strategy work, beating the McLaren cars of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris to take second and third place.

Norris was unable to make the most of a poor weekend for title rival Max Verstappen, who finished sixth. Carlos Sainz was fourth for Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton fifth for Mercedes.

In a thrilling and unexpected victory for Ferrari at their home race, Leclerc drove with bravura to the delight of the tifosi who roared their hero home. He and Ferrari deserved their praise for pulling off a one-stop that saw Leclerc keep his tyres alive for 38 laps while his rivals, most notably McLaren, were caught up in their own battles and failed to take account of Ferrari’s daring efforts.

McLaren are still racing their drivers, but when Norris was passed by Piastri and then Leclerc on the opening lap, controlling the race as a one-two was no longer an option. It meant that Norris, who set the fastest lap, could only take eight points from Verstappen, who now has a 62-point lead in the title race. It is a result that the Red Bull driver will embrace with open arms after a meeting in which his team really struggled and a 20-point gap could have been on the cards.

It is Leclerc’s seventh career victory and his second here after his 2019 win. He delivered exactly what he and Ferrari needed with an exemplary performance as they have struggled to catch the front-runners of late.

That they did that from fourth on the grid was a remarkable achievement. Although Ferrari have long since dropped out of the title fight, they are optimistic that they can finish the year strongly and start next season with Hamilton joining them like a rocket.

Norris maintained his pole position lead into turn one but was challenged hard on the opening lap by Piastri, who then made a great move on the outside at the second chicane to take the lead. Norris then lost another place to Leclerc, much to the delight of the tifosiIt was a pivotal moment, McLaren had insisted their drivers were free to race and although they were inches away from impact they did so anyway and the Australian emerged victorious.

Piastri consolidated just under a second over Leclerc and Norris two seconds behind on lap eight as they managed tyres for the opening stint. Piastri’s daring attack had left the two McLarens separated by Leclerc and thus unable to use team orders.

By lap 13 Piastri’s lead was almost three seconds over Norris, he stayed with the pair and closed on Leclerc as he pushed hard. Norris was called to the pits on lap 15 but the tension was palpable as he blocked and hit the marker on his entry to the pits, hitting it with the front right corner as he came in hard.

The plan was to undermine Leclerc, who pitted a lap later, and he succeeded, as Norris came out ahead of the Ferrari. Piastri pitted on lap 17, a good stop, and came out ahead of Norris and Leclerc.

While McLaren concentrated on the team orders between their drivers, Ferrari quietly decided to take a chance and push on until the end. Then McLaren decided to make a second stop, because the left front tyres in particular were suffering from graining.

After the stops had done their job, Piastri held a lead of just under two seconds over Norris, followed by Leclerc three seconds behind, while Verstappen made no progress in sixth.

McLaren stopped Norris again on lap 33 and Piastri on lap 39, allowing Leclerc to take the lead with Sainz in second, while Norris overtook Verstappen on lap 40, the Dutchman knowing that slowing his rival down could limit his points loss – something he managed to do for a full lap until he was overtaken at turn one.

If Leclerc could cover the distance with a one-stop, he would have been in a position to take the win, with Piastri 18 seconds behind and Norris 21 with 13 laps to go. Norris was told that Ferrari would be doing one-stops and that he would have to blast in the qualifying laps to have a chance, but it was a huge task.

Piastri overtook Sainz on lap 45 and passed Ascari. The gap was 11 seconds with seven laps to go, but the Australian did not appear to have the required pace advantage over Leclerc.

Norris took third from Sainz on lap 48 to set up a thrilling finale. Piastri closed to within seven seconds with three laps to go, but Leclerc slid his tyres with the deftest of touches towards the finish as the crowd roared him home. He took the flag to a triumphant tifosi celebrated victory by two and a half seconds, while McLaren controversially opted not to change drivers at the finish, thus failing to maximise Norris’ points.

George Russell was seventh for Mercedes, Sergio Perez eighth for Red Bull, Alex Albon ninth for Williams and Kevin Magnussen tenth for Haas.