6 storylines to watch as F1 heads to the ‘Temple of Speed’ for the Italian Grand Prix

Can Mercedes rebound? Can Red Bull hold off McLaren? These questions and more will be answered at Monza

Monza.

The very name conjures up images of Formula 1 history, and speed. Moments such as Niki Lauda’s stunning return to the track at Monza in 1976, just over a month after his harrowing crash at the Nurburgring. Gerhard Berger and Michele Alboreto delivering a dramatic one-two for Ferrari in 1988. The 1971 Italian Grand Prix offered one of the closest finishes in F1 history, with all five drivers in the top five finishing within a second of each other.

Then there was 2021, and as Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen tangled midway through the race in one of the most dramatic moments from that unforgettable season, Daniel Ricciardo charged through for his only win while with McLaren.

Then there is the nickname, one of the greatest in all of motorsports: “The Temple of Speed.” An homage to the almost religious experience involved with seeing some of the greatest drivers on the planet push their machines, and themselves, to the ultimate limit ... and beyond.

Of course, this all takes place at the home of Ferrari, and the legions of red will fill the grandstands again this weekend, honoring their living legends. That this race comes following an unexpected weekend for the Scuderia, as Charles Leclerc captured a podium finish after struggling all week in Zandvoort, and Carlos Sainz Jr. rebounded from his own struggles to finish in the points, is a beautiful bit of timing. At one point this season it looked as if Ferrari might pose the biggest challenge to Red Bull, and while those days are behind us, the Scuderia would love nothing more than to use their latest set of upgrades to the SF-24 to add another twist to the incredible tale this 2024 F1 season has become.

And what a story it would be if it were Sainz to deliver that kind of performance, in his final race with Ferrari, and on his birthday as well.

Here are the rest of storylines to follow this week at the Italian Grand Prix.

McLaren ascending ...

McLaren brought their first major set of upgrades this season to South Beach, rolling them out for the Miami Grand Prix.

Which was won by Lando Norris.

Their second major set of upgrades? Those arrived at the rack last weekend, for the Dutch Grand Prix.

Again won by Norris.

Those first upgrades kicked off a run from McLaren that vaulted them from fourth place in the F1 Constructors’ Championship to second place, just 42 points behind Red Bull as the summer break began. Now, thanks to Norris’ second win of the season and a fourth-place finish from Oscar Piastri, McLaren is now just 30 points behind Red Bull as Monza looms.

While there are nine race weekends left for McLaren to close that gap, if current form holds they might not need that long. Plus, consider this. When they left Miami, in the wake of Norris’ maiden F1 victory, McLaren had 124 points on the season, and they trailed Red Bull by 115 points.

Over the nine race weekends since, McLaren has outscored Red Bull 280-195.

McLaren are truly on the rise, but Monza presents some different challenges. While Zandvoort’s tight and twisty layout tends to favor the MCL38, Monza rewards power and speed.

But at a somewhat similar circuit, Red Bull Ring, McLaren was strong as well this season. Norris was fighting at the front when he came into contact with Verstappen, knocking him out of the race. But Piastri was there to capture a podium result, and there is reason to believe that McLaren can be strong this weekend as well.

... Red Bull descending

Meanwhile, Max Verstappen and Red Bull are searching for answers.

When the year began, it looked as if we were headed to another coronation. Red Bull locked out the front row in both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, and it seemed the long, slow march to Verstappen’s fourth-straight Drivers’ Championship — and Red Bull’s third-straight Constructors’ title — was on.

Now, however, both are in danger.

Verstappen maintains a 70-point lead over Norris, which is a significant advantage with nine race weekends to go. But both he and Red Bull senior figure Dr. Helmut Marko expressed some alarm about that race, and given Norris’ dominant performance in the Dutch Grand Prix there is certainly a threat looming in the Drivers’ race.

As for the Constructors’ Championship, this is where Red Bull is truly vulnerable. Verstappen lamented the current state of the RB20 in Zandvoort, outlining how there are issues with the balance that the team needs to figure out, and fast. In fact, Verstappen’s 22-second gap to Norris even sparked some wild theories around the paddock, that the driver eased up a bit to try and light a fire under the team back at Milton Keynes to fix the RB20 with immediate effect.

While it is almost impossible to imagine someone with the mentality of Verstappen ever easing up in a race, it is clear that the team needs to regain their form, and fast.

Because McLaren is coming.

Can Mercedes rebound?

Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff put it simply after the Dutch Grand Prix.

“We had a bad race today.”

While the Mercedes boss went on to elaborate on how the race unfolded in the team’s post-race report, those six words were all he needed to sum up their Sunday. A surprising elimination for Lewis Hamilton in Q2 on Saturday — and a grid penalty handed down for impeding Sergio Pérez — saw Hamilton start outside the points on Sunday. While he picked up enough spots to finish eight, perhaps he could have brought more home had he started inside the top ten.

As for George Russell, while he started up in fourth, he only managed to finish one place ahead of his teammate, sliding back to seventh.

That brought to an end a tremendous run of form for the Silver Arrows, who were coming off a run of six straight podium finishes, including wins in three of the last four Grands Prix before Zandvoort.

Can they rebound in Monza?

Is this the week we learn Mercedes’ 2025 lineup?

Speaking of the Silver Arrows ...

Is this the week Mercedes confirms their driver lineup for 2025?

All signs point to young phenom Kimi Andrea Antonelli — fresh off his birthday — getting the call from Mercedes for the 2025 season. The team confirmed that Antonelli will be driving in FP1 for Mercedes, taking Russell’s place in the W15, meaning the young driver will get his first taste of an F1 weekend at his home race.

Announcing his promotion to F1 for next season at his home race seems like an ideal time.

Is this Logan Sargeant’s last hurrah in F1?

The Dutch Grand Prix seemed like a turning point in Logan Sargeant’s F1 career.

The American driver was already searching for a ride for 2025, with Williams announcing during the summer shutdown that Carlos Sainz Jr. was joining the team next season on a “multi-year” deal. But with Williams rolling out upgrades to the FW46 in Zandvoort, Sargeant’s crash came at a most inopportune time. Repairs could not be made in time for Sargeant to participate in qualifying, and following the session James Vowles lamented the timing of the crash given the team’s upgrades.

“There’s hundreds of hours spent on the update, it looks like it’s working, but there’s few of them in the world,” Vowles said to Sky Sports F1. “Really, the worst time is when you’ve just introduced it with small amounts of bits and put it into the wall at the circuit.”

While speculation regarding Sargeant’s career is nothing new, the rumors kicked into overdrive late in the day Saturday. Erik van Haren of De Telegraaf reported that Vowles was looking at potential options for replacing Sargeant before the season ends, with Mick Schumacher and Liam Lawson named as potential replacements.

With no break between the Dutch Grand Prix and the Italian Grand Prix, bringing in a new driver ahead of this weekend is likely too difficult to accomplish. But with two weeks between Monza and the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, if Williams were to make such a chance that might be the moment.

Vowles showed tremendous patience with Sargeant bringing him back for 2024 and continues praising the young driver even after the decision was made to sign Sainz. Ahead of Sargeant’s crash in qualifying, Vowles had this to say regarding the American driver:

“One of the strengths that’s underrated in his regard is he has a huge mental resilience,” said Vowles. “He takes punishment in the media, in the world, really, almost weekend-on-weekend.

“But when it comes the following weekend, he’s cleared his mind of that. And he’s here just to perform, fundamentally, and he builds up to the weekend in the way it needs to be.

“If you look across the last 18 months, you can clearly see that from where he was to where he is now in terms of number of mistakes, proximity to Alex, where he’s qualifying and where he achieves, how many seconds behind he’s finishing now,” added Vowles. “It is all on the right journey.

“What he’s very good at doing now, which was a weakness beforehand, was building up into the weekend, fundamentally. So finding the limit, but approaching it from a bottom up perspective rather than top down. Because top-down, when you make one mistake, you lose a session and you start to put yourself at risk.”

Making a switch would be a departure from Vowles’ patience with, and praise for, Sargeant. But the reporting in recent days seems to indicate that it is at least an option Williams is considering.