The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
In-form Leclerc delivers again with Monza double
Charles Leclerc continued his good form to complete a practice double for the Italian Grand Prix.
Just five days after he registered the maiden victory of his Formula One career in Belgium, Leclerc ended both rain-interrupted sessions in Monza at the top of the leaderboard yesterday.
Lewis Hamilton, who heads into tomorrow’s final round of the European season with a 65-point championship lead, trailed Leclerc by just seven hundredths of a second.
Leclerc’s Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel finished third ahead of Valtteri Bottas for Mercedes.
Leclerc delivered an impressive performance last time out at SpaFrancorchamps, dominating throughout practice, sealing pole position before marching to the chequered flag.
But Mercedes’ Hamilton, bidding for a record sixth win in Italy, is in contention to deny Leclerc back-to-back victories, and Ferrari their first home win in almost a decade.
Fernando Alonso was the last driver to triumph in Monza for Ferrari in 2010.
One more tomorrow will move the Briton ahead of Michael Schumacher as the all-time master of Monza with six triumphs.
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen finished fifth for Red Bull, 0.369 seconds down on Leclerc. However, the Dutchman will start Sunday’s race from the back of the field, penalised for taking on Honda’s upgraded engine.
Joining Verstappen down the grid will be British teenager Lando Norris, also punished for engine part changes after his McLaren team were unable to salvage the failure which robbed him of a careerbest fifth in Belgium. Rory Burns believes England can draw on the spirit of their Headingley success to get back into the fourth Ashes Test against Australia.
England are facing a battle to save the match at Old Trafford after closing the third day on 200 for five, still trailing the tourists by 297.
It is a tough challenge but, after the Ben Stokes-inspired, series-levelling victory in the third Test in Leeds, Burns insists nothing should be counted out.
The opener, who hit a battling 81 in England’s reply, said: “The way that game went, I think anything is possible.
“We are not that far behind in this fixture. We are a couple of partnerships away from making them make a play again. It is about putting pressure back on them and playing well tomorrow.”
Stokes and Jonny Bairstow will resume this morning with their first task to score the 98 runs required to avoid the follow on.
Burns said: “We have obviously got some work to do, but it is pretty clear what we need to do. We have got some batters left in the hutch and we are 100 runs behind it (the follow on). That is a couple of good partnerships and then we