There is a lot arriving on Ferrari's cars at Monza: the second of its permitted engine upgrades, a revised Macarena rear wing, a new Shell fuel, and a one-off livery honouring Michael Schumacher. Charles Leclerc's contribution to the build-up was to lower expectations before any of it turned a wheel.
"I'm excited for Monza, even though on paper it doesn't look like the best track for us," Leclerc said, before adding, "but for sure, for how special Monza is for us, I'm looking forward to it."
The engine is the substantive part. Ferrari received two development tokens through F1's ADUO mechanism after the first ranking put it more than four per cent adrift of benchmark Red Bull. It used one in Austria in June. The second unit — reported to feature a larger turbocharger — has passed its reliability checks and debuts at the Italian Grand Prix. Crash.net reports a gain of roughly 15 horsepower, framed as halving rather than closing Ferrari's straight-line shortfall to Mercedes.
Fred Vasseur declined to turn that into a prediction. Asked what he expects at Monza, the team principal talked about process instead.
"So far this season, sometimes we are not, we were not expecting to get good results and we had them, and sometimes we are expecting to get better results and we struggled a bit more," Vasseur said. "I think there is much more into the execution than into the pure potential. It means that I think the best lesson of the weekend [in Zandvoort] is that if you want to win, if you want to be in front, you have to do the perfect job."
Execution is a loaded word at Ferrari right now. At Zandvoort, Mercedes resolved their strategy call in seven laps; Ferrari left Lewis Hamilton waiting, and he said so on the radio. He has since retracted the manner of it, if not the frustration.
"I've listened back to some of my radio and TV comments. In the heat of the moment frustration can come out, especially when you care as deeply as I do. But that wasn't the best version of me. I take responsibility for that, and I'll be better," Hamilton wrote.
His view of Monza is more optimistic than Leclerc's and more urgent than Vasseur's. "We're in a much different place than we have been in the past, obviously, than last year. We're still second in the Constructors' Championship. We've got a lot of positives to take from this first half. The next ones, we really need to turn up the heat if we're going to have any chance of getting these guys," he said, meaning Mercedes and McLaren.
He also described leading briefly at Zandvoort on an off-set strategy and watching it evaporate: "For sure it felt nice to lead, but seeing these guys catching, it was kind of, 'Damn it!' [...] they were catching so fast."
The Schumacher tribute is the one element with no performance risk attached. Ferrari have already revealed race suits for Hamilton and Leclerc carrying seven stars on the back and Schumacher's personal logo at the waist, marking 30 years since he arrived at Maranello in 1996 and 20 since his last win with the team. The SF-26 livery itself will be shown during race week.
Ferrari go to their home race second in the constructors' standings on 338 points, 87 behind Mercedes. Hamilton is third among the drivers on 183, tied with George Russell and 59 back from Kimi Antonelli; Leclerc is fifth on 155.
The circumstances help. Antonelli starts from the rear after Mercedes fitted a fresh power unit, and Russell has an engine penalty still to take at a race Mercedes have not yet chosen. A 15-horsepower step is a modest thing on its own. On a weekend when the championship leader is starting last, it is worth considerably more.