Zoom Zoom: Italian GP 2025! The fastest race ever in Grand Prix history!

For our 16th race on the 2025 circuit, we return to Monza Italy, home of Ferrari. It has been said there are two religions in Monza: the Catholic Church and Ferrari, and judging from the pix i saw from the opening night welcome for the Ferrari racing team, you would've have thought Pope Leo was going to appear! One Leo is in attendance though, which his dad, Charles LeClerc, seen here on vacay at the summer break:

Charles and Leo giving lewks in Monaco!

Also, Charles had nice words for Giorgio Armani who passed away recently, as they have collaborated both in fashion and Armani sponsoring Ferrari; the two developed a great friendship over the years.

Lewis Hamilton will endure a five place grid penalty for a no-no he did at the Dutch Grand Prix- it's being applied to this race as Lewis did not finish at the Dutch GP. (Edit: The Monaco GP race has been extended to 2035!) so lets get to the driver/team graphic: Switch Tsunoda and Lawson, and no Doohan, Colapinto in that Alpine seat:

All practices 60 minutes.

P1: Blue skies with fluffy clouds, 77 degrees 60% humidity sets the weather. Ferrari fans goes wild as Sir Lewis Hamilton takes the track for the first time in a Ferrari! Alex Dunne for McLaren and Paul Aron for Alpine getting their required practice in a F1 car. A brief red flag as Isack Hadjar caught gravel that spread across the track, not very neat and tidy, as the sweepers come out to clear the track. Last minute of practice sees Mercedes Georgie Russell's power unit or hydraulic issue just quit on him, and he smartly cruises over into the grass off the track. P2: Ten minutes in, Mercedes Kimi Antonelli rear tyres snap and lock, sending him deep into the gravel and beaches the car- his practice is done for the day with the Red Flag out as they clear Kimi's car. No further incidents, so on to P3 and Quali Saturday!

P3: Party cloudy, 75 degrees, 35% humidity at the track in Imola, just north of Milan. No incidents, so onto Qualifying!

My Driver of the Week, Pierre flashing that smile! Probably because he signed that extension with Alpine for a few more years!

Q1: 18 minutes. Just heard that Alpine's Pierre Gasly has extended his contract with the team till 2028! (Hmm). No incidents, so the bottom five are: Both Alpines, Colopinto and Gasly, Lance Stroll, both Sugar-Free RB's Liam Lawson and surprisingly Isack Hadjar. Q2: 15 minutes. No incidents, so next bottom five are: Both Haas cars, Estebon Ocon and Ollie Bearman, both Williams cars, Sainz and Albon and Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg. Q3: 12 minutes: No incidents, so top 10 on the grid are Max Verstappen (setting Monza quail lap record with a 1:18:792) taking pole, Lando Norris-2nd, Oscar Piastri-3rd, Charles LeClerc-4th, Lewis Hamilton-5th, George Russell-6th, Kimi Antonelli-7th, Gabriel Bortoleto-8th, Fernando Alonso-9th and Yuki Tsunoda-10th. Keep in mind Lewis 5 second grid penalty, so he will start in 10th at the GP Sunday!

Is Pierre going to do a back-flip on vacay/holiday?

Italian GP: 53 laps, 11 turns, over 3 miles a lap. Gorgeous weather, with temps around 75 degrees and clear skies. Pierre and Isack will start from the pit lane in the back of the grid due to hydraulic issue. Lewis will start in 10th to serve his five place grid penalty. On the formation lap, Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg's car said, "Nah, I'm cashing in my PTO", and he got the the rare DNS (Did Not Start) for this race. Top 13 cars are on Medium tyres, with the rest on Hards, except for Liam, who starts on Soft tyres. And it's LIGHTS OUT, and a scrum for the lead breaks out, with Lando catching grass on the left side of his car, while Max slides thru the runoff area to take the lead, but that's a no-no, and Red Bull radio tells Max to give the position back to Lando, which he does. Meanwhile, behind those two, Charles and Oscar are having a mighty scrap at it for third place, with some daring moves as they try to overtake each other-very entertaining racing in these forst two laps! Lap 4 sees Max take back the lead over Lando! Oscar finally pulls away from Charles and now Charles has Georgie on his rear-wing on Lap 11. Estebon gets slapped with a 5 second PENALTY for forcing Lance off the track!

Lap 14 sees several laps pass, with no change, with Gabriel in 7th, being the the cork for several drivers behind him. Lap 20, Yuki goes to pit, the pit crew fumbled the Hard tyres, but recovered for a 2.3 pit stop (whew for the pit crew!). Gabriel pitted for Hard tyres, and uncorked the the train, as now other drivers are able to shuffle up. Lap 25 sees Fernando's Aston/Martin car suspension give out, and he is out of this race (DNF). Max is a huge six seconds ahead of Lando, btw.

Lap 35 has top 4 drivers, Max, Lando, Oscar and now Lewis still on the Mediums, while everyone else is now on Hards, and Estebon is now the cork in the track train for those behind him at 7th ( Estebon still on Hards), and just as I type that, Georgie overtakes Estebon for 7th. Max pits (2.3) and comes out in 3rd, behind the Papaya boys. Lewis pits on Lap 39, leaving only Lando and Oscar still riding those Mediums- decisions will need to be made soon in the McLaren pit wall! I should mention that from entering the pit lane to change and to exit onto the track is about a total of 25 seconds.

Carlos and Ollie collide side by side, both sliding off into the runoff area, but both are able to get their cars back on track...but somebody gonna get a penalty!

Oscar is the first to pit on Lap 46 (something I learned! All drivers/cars are REQUIRED to pit once during a race to change tyres!). and comes out in 3rd on Softs, behind Lando and Max ( I kind of see the writing on the wall here!). Lando pits on the next lap, has an awful pit stop (5.9!!!) and McLaren has a decision to make, as Max takes the lead by 17 seconds woth a few laps to go. Ollie gets a 10 second PENALTY for that collision from earlier! McLaren makes the decision to ask Oscar to switch as Lando got screwed by the pit stop, and Oscar in his dry reaction, begrudgingly obliges, and now both are allowed to race for the final three laps for 2nd. Esteban FINALLY pits on the 2nd to last lap (????????). Kimi gets slapped with a 5 second PENALTY for not following race control instructions.

Max wins the Italian Grand Prix by 19 seconds, with Lando coming in 2nd, Oscar-3rd, Charles-4th, Georgie-5th, Hamilton-6th (good racing by him!), Albon- 7th, Gabriel-8th, Kimi, due to that penalty, drops to 9th, and rounding out the points is Isack (who started in the pit lane) in 10th!

Notes: What was Haas thinking, having Estebon not pit till the 52nd lap?????!!!!

Max the first pole position driver to win the GP since 2019. He really. did run a master class race! Max also gets Driver of the Day from the fans!

There has been a lot of fan chattering about having Oscar switch out with Lando, per team "rules". I'm not engaging in that chatter, as it has gotten pretty nasty. Move on people!

This was the fastest Grand Prix in Formula One history- 73 minutes! McLaren win the Constructor's Championship in either Baku or Singapore! 337 points ahead of Ferrari after this race! A week off, then to Baku in that country which I will spell out once in the next Zoom Zoom!

For those that made it to the end of this, and love the furballs, my last Pierre Gasly pic, with his fur-baby, Simba!

Pierre with a sleepy Simba!