Again this year, we win next year. This must have thought many Ferrari fans on the eve of the Monza Formula 1 Grand Prix, which returns partially in presence after the 2020 edition behind closed doors, judging by the pre-sale data which speak of a half flop: thanks to the very high prices (but average for an event of this kind) and a still lively summer season, which rather suggests the last remnants of a holiday, but just a few days after the race on Sunday 12 September, only 16.000 tickets were sold. Not even the entire capacity was covered, already reduced by 50%, and 30% of the tickets were sold in the Netherlands, to the wild fans of Max Verstappen who will re-propose the orange tide already seen a week ago in Zandvoort in Italy. in the home GP, when there were 70.000 of them and they watched the triumph of their favorite with joy.
Orange wave, therefore, and not red wave: among the reasons there could also be the anti-Covid restrictions (the Green Pass is required to access the grandstands), but the truth is probably that Ferrari does not warm hearts as it once did: in Monza last year the Frenchman Pierre Gasly won by surprise, ahead of Carlos Sainz who however was still at the Mc Laren, while the Cavallino riders Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel were both forced to retire. It is also true that the year before it was Leclerc who triumphed, but victory had also been missing for 9 years, when Fernando Alonso won in 2010. However, neither of the two won the World Championship in the season of victory in their home GP: the last was Michael Schumacher, on whom a highly anticipated documentary will be released on Netflix in a few days, in 2006. The drivers' world title in Maranello has been missing since the very distant 2007 with Kimi Raikkonen: since then Alonso and Vettel have come close a couple of times, but otherwise it was pitch dark.
Even this season, the results of the Reds are rather disappointing: still no wins and rarely fighting for the positions that count. Ranked Leclerc and Sainz are seventh and eighth, behind even Norris and Perez. Also for the Monza GP, the wait is all for the duel between Verstappen and the reigning multiple world champion Lewis Hamilton, who once again promise to play for the top steps of the podium. Perhaps it is above all for this reason that the grandstands, barring last minute news, will not fill up and that the dominant color will not be red but orange.
In any case, the 15nd edition of the race, the 92nd valid for the Formula 72 world championship, will be held at 1pm on Sunday. This year the qualifications are staged with an innovative formula: instead of the two hours of free practice on Friday there was only one, followed by qualifying which will define the starting grid for the Sprint Qualifying. Saturday at 12 we get on the track for the second hour of free practice, while at 16.30 the 100 km race (equal to 18 laps) gets underway – without a mandatory pit stop and with a free choice of tires – the result of which will award pole position and the other positions on the grid for the start of the real Grand Prix on Sunday.
