The ‘important information’ Carlos Sainz gave Ferrari that helped Charles Leclerc win at Monza

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Charles Leclerc was the toast of Monza on Sunday evening after securing a magical win for Ferrari at their home race.

Only the most die-hard Ferrari fans would have thought Charles Leclerc had a chance of victory after starting the race from 4^th on the grid.

McLaren had the superior car and grid position but Oscar Piastri’s late move going into the opening chicane meant George Russell had to take to the slip road, promoting Leclerc to 3^rd.

The Australian wasn’t done yet and Piastri’s incredible move on Lando Norris opened the door for Leclerc to move up another position.

Ferrari then had a decision to make and pitted Leclerc a lap later than Norris to try and avoid being undercut.

READ MORE: Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend

It didn’t work and suddenly McLaren were in the hot seat once again, but writing on the Formula 1 website, strategist Bernie Collins has shared how Carlos Sainz’s performance ultimately led to Leclerc winning the Italian Grand Prix.

Sainz also made up a place on the first lap, passing Lewis Hamilton before running longer on his first stint.

It was his input on the hard tyres that guided Leclerc on whether he should follow McLaren’s decision to pit again or attempt the one-stop strategy.

He did his best to try and hold up both McLaren drivers as they chased down his teammate but had to enjoy the fanfare from the Tifosi from beneath the podium.

How Carlos Sainz helped Charles Leclerc win the Italian Grand Prix

Explaining Ferrari’s strategy from Sunday, Collins said: “So why did Ferrari do something different? And where does Carlos Sainz come into it?

“In the opening stint, when Sainz was running in P4, he was too far behind Norris to attempt an undercut and Ferrari were still considering the one-stop possibility.

“Therefore, Sainz pushed to extend as he thought it was too early to stop and remain on a sensible one-stop strategy.

“Later in this stint, Sainz reported that the graining was improving and that the tyre and lap times may recover.

“This was important information for Ferrari. Sainz was then called to pit before being undercut by Lewis Hamilton so the lap time improvement was crucially not seen by the other teams.

READ MORE: Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz’s life outside F1 from full name, girlfriend and height

“In the second stint running in largely free air, Sainz pushed Ferrari discussion on the one-stop strategy possibility.

“The pit wall and Sainz discussed whether they should cover Hamilton’s second pit stop or remain on the one-stop option – with Sainz favouring the latter after reporting that his tyres were still good.

“At this point, the information is given to Leclerc that Sainz is targeting a one-stop strategy. Leclerc agrees that it is the best opportunity to win and immediately begins work on the tyre saving required to pull it off.”

Charles Leclerc’s race engineer played his role in Italian Grand Prix victory

For so long, Ferrari’s biggest issue has been their strategy calls with Leclerc’s races ruined time and again over the past few years by poorly timed pit stops or switching onto the wrong tyres.

Ferrari decided to switch the 26-year-old’s race engineer earlier this year and there were question marks regarding Leclerc and Bryan Bozzi’s relationship.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Scuderia Ferrari from team principal to factory

However, Bozzi played a crucial role in Leclerc’s win when he once again wasn’t sure he had pitted at the right time.

He believed that once he was undercut by Norris he should have run for longer on his medium tyres.

That may have made his life easier at the end of the race, but the strategy they decided upon worked perfectly in the end.