Italian GP: Charles Leclerc playing down hopes of home victory for Ferrari at Monza

Charles Leclerc has suggested that Ferrari may struggle for performance at Monza more than they did at Zandvoort.

The Scuderia have seen Red Bull stretch their legs even further in both the Constructors’ and Drivers’ championships to the point now that it looks a foregone conclusion as to where both titles are heading this year.

Indeed, the return from the summer break has not been the reset Ferrari would have liked with them unable to do anything about Red Bull and Max Verstappen in particular, and now the triple header reaches its conclusion this very weekend with the Italian Grand Prix.

Monza, of course, is the one circuit where Ferrari are expected to achieve more than anywhere else but that cannot always be the case and it might not be this season as well.

Though the Prancing Horse has actually been the strongest we’ve seen for a few years this season, the Red Bull is looking very good indeed and, heading into Monza, Leclerc isn’t sure that they have the car suitable to take the fight to them on home turf, which will naturally disappoint the Tifosi.

Speaking to the media after the Dutch GP, he was asked to look forward to this weekend’s race in northern Italy and had this to say:

“On paper, it’s not our best track, unfortunately.

“But anyway, I’m really looking forward to going there. We always have a massive amount of support. And for that, I’m really looking forward to it.

“But I think the performance on paper will be a bit more difficult than this weekend, unfortunately.”

The whole of the country will be cheering Ferrari on on home soil this weekend, regardless of recent form, and the place will erupt if Leclerc can replicate his victory of 2019 for the Scuderia.

Going into the weekend, though, Max Verstappen