Ferrari, next races sacrificed to win at Monza? The Red Bull hypothesis

Monza’s newfound form, they say in England, is untrue.

Ferrari still blanched from its failure to win the Italian Grand Prix, where Charles Leclerc finished second behind Max Verstappen without a chance to attack him in the finale because of the Safety Car. Yet there are those in Red Bull who argue that the real strength of the Prancing Horse’s single-seaters is not what was seen at Monza.

Indeed, statements to ‘Motorsport-total.com’ by Paul Monaghan, Red Bull’s current chief engineer, are causing discussion. His hypothesis is tantalizing British insiders and fans in no small way, so much so that it has even bounced back to the ‘Daily Telegraph’. A hypothesis that Ferrari would have used the maximum potential of its car in the hope of winning at Monza, but sacrificing performance for the upcoming races.

“What I think doesn’t count for much, you have to knock on their door to get a real answer. But I think our neighbors, because of their historical and geographical situation, have invested a little bit more in the Monza Grand Prix,” Monaghan said about Ferrari.

Then the Red Bull engineer explained less cryptically what he meant: “If they wanted to increase the performance of their engine for a single race, they could do that. And at this point I think there are two possibilities, either Ferrari has handled their development extremely smartly or they have decided to bet it all on a single race.”