Leclerc hoping for no Ferrari blunders after taking Italian GP pole

MONZA, Italy: Charles Leclerc hopes Ferrari have put recent troubles behind them after giving the Italian team a great chance of winning on home soil by taking pole at Monza on Saturday. The man from Monaco is in prime position to record his first win since Austria in early July thanks to his eighth pole of the season, which came after a rapid final qualifying lap around the Temple of Speed which put him 0.145 seconds ahead of championship leader Max Verstappen.

He also benefits from nearly half the drivers at the Italian Grand Prix being hit with grid penalties, including reigning champion Verstappen who was docked five places for exceeding his engine allocation on Friday. A win in front of massed ranks of passionate Ferrari fans would be the perfect antidote to a campaign which has been littered with mishaps and blunders.

The nadir came in a farcical team display at last weekend’s Dutch GP which was punctured by errors including bungled pit-stops, unsafe releases in the pit lane and erratic strategy calls. “It’s not because we’re here at Monza that it’s more important than other races not to make any mistakes,” Leclerc told reporters.

“We need to become a team which does no mistakes wherever we go. Yes it is a special weekend for us but the target for us doesn’t change, we just need to have a clean race and a good race.” This was Ferrari’s 22nd pole at Monza on the famous Italian constructor’s 75th anniversary, marked by a dash of yellow on the team’s livery this weekend.

Leclerc will try to cut Verstappen’s 109-point lead at the top of the drivers’ standings in front of Ferrari chairman John Elkann. The Agnelli family scion said in an interview with the Gazzetta Dello Sport published on Saturday that a world title