Five big Italian GP questions: Ferrari’s home chances, Williams’ Colapinto conundrum and more

The Italian Grand Prix is almost here, and in the days since the chequered flag at Zandvoort, much has already taken place in the world of Formula 1.

Chief among which is that a new face will be on the grid this weekend, with Logan Sargeant having been replaced at Williams by junior driver Franco Colapinto, but for all that and much more, here are the questions we are looking ahead to at the Temple of Speed, Monza.

Five big questions ahead of the F1 2024 Italian Grand Prix

Additional reporting by Sam Cooper

Can Ferrari challenge for a home victory in front of the tifosi ?

The eternal question when it comes to the Italian Grand Prix: How will Ferrari perform in front of their adoring home support?

Well, if team principal Fred Vasseur is anything to go by from before the summer break, he was hopeful that Monza would be one of the circuits where the Scuderia would be able to mount one of their stronger challenges in the remainder of the F1 2024 season.

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso even said the SF-24 “should be the car to beat” at the Temple of Speed this weekend, with its strengths seemingly suiting the long straights and sweeping corners that Monza provides.

They will face stern competition, however, not least from McLaren, whose car appears to be the most well-rounded and competitive at every circuit.

The beauty of the F1 2024 season so far has been its unpredictability, and given track changes at Monza this year, Carlos Sainz predicts another weekend along the same lines.

“It’s been resurfaced, Monza, so we will find a very different Monza to the last few years,” he told media including PlanetF1.com at Zandvoort.

“So I think we need to wait and see, but I hope that Monza is one of those weekends where we can get both cars in the podium or in the top five, and whether we can fight for the win or not, we will see.”

All you need to know ahead of the Italian Grand Prix this weekend

👉 F1 schedule: When is the next F1 race and where is it taking place?

👉 F1 penalty points: Which driver is closest to receiving a one-race ban?

Will Williams’ driver swap pay off?

The big news heading into the weekend is that Logan Sargeant is no longer a Formula 1 driver, with Williams having opted to replace him with their junior driver, Franco Colapinto, for the remainder of the season.

Team principal James Vowles admitted it was an “undoubtedly incredibly tough” decision for the American, but this change came about as he is looking to maximise every opportunity to score points until the end of the season.

PlanetF1.com understands talks over a potential move for Red Bull reserve Liam Lawson stalled after Red Bull wanted a recall option on their driver, should one of their seats become available, while Williams wanted his guaranteed availability for the rest of the season. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, meanwhile, said he would have been “cheering for” Mick Schumacher to be given an opportunity to return to the grid, but Vowles opted to promote from within instead.

There are risks attached to this for Williams and Vowles, giving a rookie a seat for the remainder of the season in a tight Constructors’ Championship fight when two other team bosses were offering their reserves – both of which with Formula 1 experience – but there is also a strength in trusting your own junior driver to do the job, which is the case with Colapinto.

It will also be a proud moment for Argentina, such a storied nation in the history of Formula 1 with representation in one of the all-time greats in Juan Manuel Fangio, but Colapinto will be their first Grand Prix starter in 23 years when he steps into the breach this weekend.

It is a bold gamble from Vowles and Williams to choose a rookie at short notice for the final nine races, and time will tell if the risk pays off.

A first Kimi Antonelli F1 sighting on a Grand Prix weekend, but not the last?

In other rookie news, Andrea Kimi Antonelli will be stepping into George Russell’s Mercedes for his first FP1 appearance in Formula 1 this weekend.

He is now also the hot favourite to be partnering the Briton at the team next season, with Mercedes’ pursuit of Max Verstappen for next season having now ended.

Antonelli, who turned 18 on Sunday, has had a rapid rise through the categories in motorsport, has taken part in Mercedes TPC [testing of previous car] days this season and has been talked up as one of the brightest young prospects in the sport, and Wolff even said seeing him head out of the garage on Friday will be an “emotional moment”, given his long journey with the team to date.

“We’re going to do FP1 with Kimi at Monza,” Wolff confirmed to media including PlanetF1.com at Zandvoort.

“Which is going to be a really emotional moment, because we followed him since he was 11 and a baby go-kart driver with a Mercedes kit, proud to be in the garage, to seeing him drive out on Friday in FP1 in Monza, in front of the tifosi .

“Having an Italian kid in a competitive car, I think that will be something that everybody in Italy can be very proud of.”

How much will Max Verstappen be able to get out of his Red Bull?

A question we did not think we would be asking at the start of this season, but given how Red Bull appears to have been leapfrogged in the competitive order, that P2 finish at Zandvoort looks to have been a superlative drive from the reigning World Champion.

And just how much of this season will be about maximising what is underneath him from now until the end of the year?

There is not a doubt that the RB20 remains one of the quickest cars on the grid, but perhaps not the outright quickest anymore.

With that, then, comes the need for Verstappen to play the dreaded ‘championship game’, dragging the car as far as it can in the knowledge he may not be able to win on pure pace, and any race victories from here may prove to be a bonus, unless Red Bull can find a solution for him.

For now, it seems odd to say it considering it has only been five races, but he is on his longest winless streak for almost four years, and Verstappen above anyone else will want to fix it.

A rapturous Lewis Hamilton reception from the tifosi ahead of his Ferrari move?

While it will be the final time Carlos Sainz will head out at Monza as a Ferrari driver (for now at least, you can never rule things out for the future), the tifosi will head to the circuit already knowing that Lewis Hamilton is coming to the team next year.

Already a five-time winner of the Italian Grand Prix, a joint record with Michael Schumacher, Hamilton is still a Mercedes driver this time around, but the knowledge that he will be in the red of Ferrari next season may subtly change his interactions with the Italian fans this year.

Who knows? It could even be a chance for the seven-time World Champion, who said earlier this year he is taking Italian lessons, to trial a little bit of what he has learned so far in any chats he has with the tifosi at Monza this weekend.

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