MOTORSPORT: Ricciardo's best for Renault amid Monza magic

Daniel Ricciardo scored his best finish with Renault as Ferrari won its home grand prix for the first time since 2010.

The tifosi -- Ferrari's fanatical fans -- were delirious as Charles Leclerc ended the Prancing Horse's drought at Monza, withstanding everything Mercedes could throw at him and more.

Ricciardo was fourth, behind the Mercs of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton, and his departing teammate Nico Hulkenberg was fifth, making it Renault's best GP in more than a decade, although the team was in the hands of Lotus for some of that time.

While carsales.com.au global ambassador Ricciardo was "very satisfied", fellow Australian of Italian heritage Alex Peroni has multiples breaks in a vertebra and had concussion after a spectacular crash in Saturday's Formula 3 race at Monza.

Peroni's car launched off the Parabolica kerbing, barrel-rolled through the air and landed on a safety fence, with its halo saving the 19-year-old Tasmanian from much worse injuries.

There was much better fortune for 18-year-old Melburnian Oscar Piastri, who scored his sixth win of the year in the Formula Renault Eurocup at Budapest's Hungaroring and leads that series by 37.5 points with six races remaining.

Meanwhile, Monza was a sea of banner and flag-waving red as Leclerc followed up his maiden F1 victory a week earlier at Spa in Belgium with an even more convincing performance on Ferrari's home ground.

"There are no words to describe the emotions I felt during the race, after the race, or on the podium," Leclerc said.

"It felt 10 times stronger than anything I have ever experienced in my whole career. It was very special."

The 22-year-old from Monaco, in his first year at Ferrari and only his second in Formula 1, gave Hamilton more than he got, almost squeezing him off the track, and the five-time world champion then made way for Bottas to try to snatch the lead at the end, but he too failed.

The Mercs were faster overall but could not match Leclerc's top-end speed on the power circuit.

As much as Leclerc is now the tifosi's pin-up boy, Sebastian Vettel, a four-time world champion at Red Bull before joining the scuderia, is a shadow of his former self.

Angered that Leclerc did not return a slipstreaming favour in qualifying, Vettel spun inexplicably early in the race and, in his haste to get back on track, collected Lance Stroll's Racing Point car.

After a 10-second penalty for that 'sin', Vettel finished only 13th and was a shattered man as Leclerc was the centre of attention and adulation during Ferrari's celebratory photo shoot.

Adding to Vettel's woe is that he copped three demerit points and, if he offends again soon, he could face a race ban.

Ricciardo, who had scored points only once in the previous seven races in his first season at Renault, felt his team had deserved its excellent result and paid particular praise to its oft-maligned engine department.

"Fourth place matches my best ever result here in Monza [with Red Bull] and to do it with Renault is great," Ricciardo said.

"I saw the battles happening at the front and I thought there could be a big opportunity to score strong points.

"I'm really happy for myself and also for the team. To get its best result since returning to F1 in fourth and fifth at a power circuit really complements Renault and their hard work.

"The race pace was really good and it's a nice reward for the team.

"The result is long overdue this year. I'm very satisfied now."

Leclerc has overtaken Vettel in the driver standings, 182 points to 169, with Hamilton out front on 284, Bottas has 221 and Red Bull's Max Verstappen -- eighth at Monza, two places behind new teammate Alex Albon, after starting at the back of the grid and needing a new front on his car after an opening-lap tangle, is third on 185.

Ricciardo has jumped to eighth on 34 points, while Renault is now fifth in the constructors' championship with 65 points, having overtaken Toro Rosso (51) but still trailing McLaren (83).

Mercedes is way clear on 505 points to Ferrari's 351 and Red Bull's 266, but the night race in Singapore in a fortnight will be much more to the liking of the Honda-powered Red Bulls with their Adrian Newey aerodynamics.