Herbert: Ferrari winning at Monza a possibility

Both Ferrari drivers have tasted victory this season; Melbourne winner Carlos Sainz and Monaco victor Leclerc will be hoping that updates to Ferrari for Monza are on point, while the energy of the Tifosi is sure to hand them a tenth or so 'advantage' of collective manifestation.

But since that famous day in Monte Carlo, Ferrari has slipped down the pecking order of the top three. However, margins are ultra-slim at high-speed Monza. Sainz ended FP2 in P3 and Leclerc in P5, the latter only 0.156s down on the top time set by Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton on Friday. The top ten were within about 0.60s.

Speaking to the media team at Poker Apps LTD, Foremula 1 winner turned pundit Herbert said of Ferrari's chances of a Monza victory: "I think it's a possibility. It's a totally different track because obviously it's low downforce, very, very fast, and with high speeds.

"There's a lot of work being done over the last year on the circuit, so it's probably going to be a little bit different from what we've seen before. It's just going to sort of make things a little bit better for particular teams," predicts Herbert.

The Briton continued: "One of those teams, potentially, is Ferrari. They’re still lacking raw pace and are still not in a position to attack Red Bull and McLaren. But Ferrari had, unexpectedly, a very strong race at Zandvoort. They weren’t going to win the race, but it was still a very strong performance from them.

"Monza is their home, and the Tifosi will be expecting them to do well. But I must be honest, I think the McLaren will still be the car to beat," added Herbert.

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur told reporters on Friday evening at Monza: "Consistency was not the issue on the long stint. I think we made a huge step forward compared to 12 months ago on this. For sure, we are all looking after consistency from session to session or from event to event.

"But we are also in the situation that we are developing this car now for three years or four years. It's becoming more and more difficult to bring performance to the car and we have to take a bit more risk on this and sometimes it's paying off, sometimes a bit less." the Frenchman admitted.

Qualifying will reveal a great deal more after a hard-to-read first day of practice. Although Hamilton topped the final session yesterday but only by 0.003s over Norris, and then Sainz a tenth adrift.

Notably, Max Verstappen spent most of the day experimenting with the RB20. P14 for him and P15 for his teammate Sergio Perez was not indicative of what Red Bull have in their arsenal.

Ferrari are P3 in the 2024 F1 World Championship standings, dropping behind upwardly mobile McLaren and Mercedes stalking them. A win at Monza is just the tonic the Reds need. Can they do it? Bring on Qualifying for Part 1 of the answer! And tune in for part 2 on Sunday.