The first time - My favourites of the Monza weekend
- Alice Cecchi
- Sep 13, 2022
- 4 min read
As I do every weekend, I'm here to tell you about the drivers that I liked the most during this weekend in Monza: even though I don't like the track it always provides memorable races.
We're in Monza, the temple of speed, one of the tracks that wrote the history of motorsport, where the red Tifosi reign: amazing atmosphere but I don't particularly enjoy the track layout. The race result in the last few years prevented it from being my least favourite race because, even if we've seen Charles Leclerc, Pierre Gasly and Daniel Ricciardo win there, no victory has ever made me like the Monza weekend.
This year surely wasn't that much of a hectic race as it was the previous years, quite unexpectedly, but it was full of thrilling emotions, moreover if you're like me and you like to search for the little things, the most hidden details, of this sport.
It's actually difficult to find them in Monza, as Monza is loud: thousands of Tifosi, coming from all over the world, extra long straights that increase the cars' noise perception, the "Frecce Tricolori" - the aerobatic demonstration by the Italian Air Force - that even though I love to watch their show, they are so loud when passing. Monza is a lot, in every sense: mediatic, economic and sport wise. Monza doesn't let you the chance to breath, it doesn't even give you time to think, it always has a new card to play.
We can still say the same this year because even if the race wasn't the most amazing one, there were two championship titles awarded and a new driver stepping behind the wheel of a Formula 1.
Nyck De Vries
When Nyck made his debut in Formula 2 he immediately caught my attention: right from the start I got attached to him, both due to his charismatic personality and to his way of driving on track, as he's always so sharp and precise. I followed him during his journey in F2 as if I also were on track with him and it broke my heart when he didn't get a seat in Formula 1 despite winning basically everywhere. I also supported him in WEC - which, by the way, I have to thank him for, since I started following the whole championship because he was there- and in Formula E, where I had the opportunity to meet him.
During these years he became one of my favourite, one of the few drivers I consider myself a fan of, and when he was announced for the Monza Grand Prix I was extremely happy: it was the right chance for him to show how great of a driver he is, to demonstrate that he deserves that seat, and he surely didn't waste it.
With only one session of free practice he was able to adapt to the car, to understand it enough to tame it just in time for Qualifying: he went straight into Q2 and lined eighth on the starting grid, also thanks to half of the grid serving previous penalties. During the race he was able to keep everyone behind, defending every attack as if it was the last one and also trying to overtake Gasly a couple of times: at first glance it seems like a no-brainer performance but if we think about the fact that it was "Quick" Nyck's first time - with the emotion of being his first time in an F1 race, with the pressure of performing well and the responsibility of not letting others down - we have to give this guy our most sincere congratulations.
I'm very proud of him, finally the others will be able to appreciate him as much as I did during these years. I wish him the best for the next season, hoping it will be in Formula 1, as it's there where he deserves to battle and win.
Jüri Vips
Talking about first times, Jüri Vips certainly isn't an unknown face in the Formula 2 paddock - as the Estonian driver is doing his third season there - but this year has been pretty particular for him: due to a comment he did while live in a Twitch stream he was excluded from the program of the Red Bull Junior Team and harshly criticized by social media. Drama aside, that surely influenced his performance, he struggled a lot on track, as he didn't manage to shine as he used to in the previous years.
Lots of people stopped believing in him after the whole Twitch thing and only a few stayed; I was one of them and finally, during the Sprint Race he won for the first time in the season. Monza has always been a track where he managed to perform well, where he had already won, and so he did this time, immediately taking the lead and maintaining it with a clean drive.
Ollie Bearman
Even if it ended with all the cars lined up in the pit-lane, this Formula 3 season showed to have drivers able to compete at high levels: this weekend, due to his smooth overtakes, Ollie deserves to be the one mentioned.
We're all still thinking about his Sprint Race overtake that allowed him to gain the second step of the podium: at the first chicane the British driver put himself between Edgar and Collet, overtaking them on the outside. A masterpiece, it surely was the overtake of the weekend.
This is Ollie Bearman: he's like that overtake, risky but necessary to try to keep the title chances high, mind blowing, brave and tenacious. During the last race of the season he was author of an incredible remontada to the second position, with a race pace that could've allowed him to try and undermine Maloney - also in the title fight - for the victory, if only it wasn't for a red flag with only five laps to go. The race ended in the pits, with the championship being handed to Victor Martins - absolutely a legitimate and worthy champion - but Ollie tried to fight till the last runnable kilometer and I'm sure that if those last five laps went underway he would've given the maximum to dominate.
Monza was a rollercoaster of emotions, of first times and new champions, but I still seem to not like it, mission failed also this year! Jokes aside, these were the three drivers that left me astonished during this weekend.
Next race up, is Singapore in three weeks, but only for F1, let's see what it holds for us.
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