About this year’s Monza GP

This race was such an emotional journey. For the last 14 laps, I didn’t move an inch – stuck not on the cars or the track, but on the timer. The gap between Piastri and Leclerc decreased bit by bit. All kinds of calculations went through – “he needs to cover up more than a second every lap, Leclerc’s tyres must’ve degraded so much,” “this isn’t a Pirelli recommended strategy, it’s a total disaster, 2022 is repeating itself…”

But, everytime I breathed, Leclerc continued to win my confidence. Just like he has done so many times over the years. Monza in 2019 was special, and so was this one.

I don’t think there is a single driver on the grid who is as passionate about his team as Leclerc. It shows. The true emotion. The magical drives when everything is falling apart. The spectacular qualification Q3 timings that come out of nowhere. The “I am not thinking twice about Ferrari” confidence he instills in fans.

A few weeks ago, I visited Italy. Ferrari & Godfather have always been how I’ve known Italy. And it shows. The passion in how they do things – the trains, the food, the conversations, everything! The emotion and need to have things be in order.

The Italian commentators that pour their hearts out when their teams win. The celebration at Monza when a Scuderia wins.

It was Kimi who showed me how to enjoy F1 back in 2007, Vettel who showed what consistent good performances are, and Leclerc who shows what beautiful, passionate, fast driving looks like. No wonder I naturally root for him.

Nothing beats the experience of watching an exhilarating, down-to-the-very-end sport live and seeing your team win. As someone great (don’t know who) has said, watching a thrilling sport live is a true privilege.

A true cathartic experience.