Ferrari 'pay back' revealed after tick-box triumph

Frederic Vasseur has declared Charles Leclerc's Italian Grand Prix victory more "emotional than mathematical".

After the storied win in front of the Tifosi at Monza, the Ferrari team principal highlighted that whilst his Monégasque driver had won two of the races he would want to "tick off" in a season, he simply scored the same number of points as he would at the next round in Azerbaijan.

With Leclerc starting fourth on the grid, Ferrari held firm with the conventional one-stop tyre strategy on an afternoon when most of the field had abandoned the status quo in favour of an extra pit stop.

When the McLarens peeled off for their third and final set of Pirellis, the 26-year-old managed the remainder of the grand prix from the front, eventually taking victory by a little over two-and-a-half seconds from Oscar Piastri.

"For sure, it's a good one for Ferrari, for Charles [Leclerc] to win in Monaco, to win in Monza," Vasseur said to media including RacingNews365. 

"I think probably with Imola, it's the two or three that you want to tick off on the season.

"But it's more emotional than mathematical at the end of the day. You are scoring no more points in Monza than in Baku. Mathematically speaking, it's a win."

Despite the pragmatic approach, rationally pointing out the win is worth no more than any other, Vasseur did admit to its significance.

The 56-year-old said the triumph was a perfect present in light of the Scuderia's support in the run-up to the event.

"Emotionally speaking, for sure, it's something very important because we had huge support from the beginning of the week from the Tifosi," the Frenchman said.

"Starting on Monday at the factory in Maranello, we had hundreds of people in front of the entrance, and the best way to pay them back was to win.

"It's not ever easy, it's not always under control, but for the team, it was the best way to pay back everybody for their support."