Charles Leclerc says his victory at last year's Italian Grand Prix remains "the best day of my life".

In the future, that race at Monza last September may well be considered the moment when the Leclerc-Ferrari era was born as he held off both Mercedes single-handedly to give the Tifosi their first home win since 2010.

And after Formula 1 replayed his remarkable win in full on YouTube this past Saturday, the Monegasque reflected on what that day was like.

“It was the best day of my life, without a doubt," he said via Instagram.

“It was very, very special – so many people cheering for one team, the team I’m in – and such a special team, which is Ferrari.

“The whole week was building up to that moment, and to finally win this race was crazy. [When I was] on the podium there were hundreds of thousands of people and 99% were wearing red… and they started singing the national anthem. It was a very special moment.”

It was the moment that really capped off Leclerc's impressive first year as a race driver at Ferrari, during which he claimed seven poles and two wins en route to beating teammate Sebastian Vettel in the championship.

And Leclerc admits the experience was like nothing he had been through before.

“It’s the first time in my career that I had so much pressure,” he said.

“The weekend started on Monday, the race weekend, with a lot of activities. On Tuesday or Wednesday we were in Milan, [there were] so many people.

“You could really feel that the whole country, the whole of Italy is with you and behind Ferrari in general, and you can feel they absolutely want you to win.

“Then the race, on Sunday, was crazy.

“I had Lewis [Hamilton] less than one second behind me for the whole race and then Valtteri [Bottas] arrived towards the end and started to push me too.

“It was very difficult to stay focused and I could see the Italian fans cheering in the grandstands; I was trying to force myself not to watch the fans in the grandstands and keep watching the track.

“But when I finally won it was a relief, it was a really special feeling.”

Asked how many times he'd watched the race since...

“Twice. In English and Italian,” he confirmed. “I know what happened in the end, so I guess that helps [with the suspense].

“But of course it still gives me chills every time I see the end of the race, and it’s always very special to watch it back.”