Ferrari CEO declares Charles Leclerc’s Italian GP victory as ‘the best day’ of his life

As the F1 teams rolled up to the paddock at the Italian GP, fans expected McLaren to take home a 1-2 finish due to their overwhelming pace. On the other hand, Ferrari brought some track-specific upgrades to give their all to amass a race win in front of the Tifosi. Though the chances were slim, the Scuderia gambled on a one-stop strategy during the 53-lap race, and won the marquee event courtesy of the efforts of Charles Leclerc. This urged Ferrari’s CEO, Benedetto Vigna to assert that the Italian GP victory was the best day of his life.

Benedetto Vigna joined Ferrari as the CEO in 2021. The team had just come from the back of its worst season in decades when the team finished a mere sixth in the standings. Despite the setback, the 55-year-old directed the prancing horses through major structural changes and brought in multiple new members. Subsequently, the fruits of his changes are finally paying off as the Maranello-based squad has won three races so far this season.

Moreover, one of these three races happened to be at their home track in Monza. The atmosphere was flooded with red as the Tifosi chanted the Italian national anthem with their golden boy Charles Leclerc standing on top step of the podium.

I can only say that this is one of best days of my life. It's three years today that I started working in this fantastic company. And, this is the best gift that I could get. Great teamwork! Let's enjoy!

Benedetto Vigna said post Italian GP

After the race, Ferrari’s CEO revealed that he was ecstatic to witness Leclerc winning the race. He further stated that in his three years working at the manufacturing giant, the Monegasque’s win at Monza was his best memory to date.

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Ferrari’s performance won’t fall considerably after Italian GP win

While this is not the first time Ferrari has won a race in 2024, the team has often witnessed massive slumps in performance after winning a race. Subsequently, when the prancing horses won around the principality, they had a terrible race in Canada. This led to people raising eyebrows around the Italian giant’s real pace as experts speculated that the team could face another downturn in performance after Monza.

On the contrary, when the 26-year-old was asked about whether Ferrari would tumble again, Leclerc gave his perspective.

We shouldn’t – and I’ve said that after Monaco, and I think we did that – we shouldn’t rely on the race we have just done. As a team, it’s really important for us that once we come back at the factory tomorrow, we reset from everything that has happened during the weekend. We did a reset from Monaco to Montreal, but as we’ve seen from Monaco to Montreal, it was a really big change from one weekend to another. And then we went through three or four of the worst races of the season, just because we were trying to understand what was going on in our car. 

Charles Leclerc said in an interview as quoted by RaceFans

Leclerc further had the following to add.

So hopefully we don’t go through three or four very difficult races from now on. I don’t think it will be the case. But again, it’s very important that not only the team, but I think also the expectations from outside don’t become crazy high from one race to another because this is not realistic.

Charles Leclerc added

The Monegasque claimed that there was no reason to fall in the pecking order. However, he remained realistic as he admitted that they didn’t expect themselves to be heading the field once again in Baku (Azerbaijan).

Apart from this, Ferrari currently trails Red Bull by 39 points. Thus, the coveted 2024 constructor’s championship is up for grabs as the Austrian giant has plummeted considerably in the last few races.

In case you missed it:

• Toto Wolff labels Italian GP as Max Verstappen and Red Bull’s ‘worst race in many years’
• (Video) Max Verstappen gives SARCASTIC smile after ‘nothing went well’ for Red Bull during dismal Italian GP

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