Ferrari's strategy gamble was enough to win the Italian Grand Prix for Charles Leclerc.
Charles Leclerc has conceded he did have doubts around Ferrari's one-stop strategy gamble that brought him Italian Grand Prix victory.
Leclerc and Ferrari opted for the contra-strategy at Monza from fourth on the grid with the rest of the leading drivers, including the McLaren pair of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, who were tasked with hunting Leclerc and Carlos Sainz down in the closing stages.
The McLarens were able to pass Sainz for a double-podium, but Leclerc defeated Piastri by 2.664s for a second win of the season and first for Ferrari at Monza since his 2019 success.
Leclerc admitted that the one-stop was his preferred choice going into the race, but that Red Bull's struggles after starting on the hard with graining had him worried.
"Before the race, if you would have asked me, the one-stop was definitely the thing I wanted to do," Leclerc told media including RacingNews365.
"After 10 laps, I think we saw that Red Bull started to struggle with the front left on the hard, and there we started to doubt the one-stop.
"We thought that it would be a lot more difficult because we thought that the hard would be a more difficult tyre to bring to the end.
"However, as soon as I put it on, I still thought that it was a possibility, especially when Oscar pitted two or three laps after that.
"I felt like I had more grip not having a car in front, especially on the front tyres, and that's where I really thought that the one-stop, we could make it work."
