Motorsport
Home euphoria! Carlos Sainz delighted the many tifosi with victory in qualifying for the Italian GP, leaving only second place for Verstappen
The 14th qualifying session of the Formula 1 season took place at the famous Monza circuit, located in a protected nature park in Milan, Italy. In the last three Grands Prix, three different drivers have taken pole position. This streak could have been extended by the triumph of anyone other than Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen.
The 14th qualifying session of the Formula 1 season took place at the famous Monza circuit, located in a protected nature park in Milan, Italy. In the last three Grands Prix, three different drivers have taken pole position. This streak could have been extended by the triumph of anyone other than Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen. In the end, none of this trio managed to win qualifying. Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz will start the Italian GP from pole position, followed by Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc on Sunday.
As with the Hungarian VC, Italy introduced the rule of one different set for each part of qualifying. In Q1, all drivers had to fit only hard tyres, in Q2 medium tyres and in Q3 the softest tyres.
The first part of qualifying (Q1)
Although the stewards cancelled his first fast lap for breaking track limits, Max Verstappen dominated the opening 18-minute session despite this slight inconvenience with a time of 1:21.573.
Behind the Dutchman was Alexander Albon, who lost 88 thousandths of a second for first position. The high expectations of fans and experts for Williams were confirmed by sixth-placed Logan Sargeant. The pair included Leclerc, Tsunoda and Pérez. Alpha Tauri celebrated a double qualification to Q2, with Liam Lawson, substitute for the injured Daniel Ricciardo, recording a twelfth time.
For Zhou Guanyu, Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon, Kevin Magnussen and Lance Stroll, Saturday’s programme came to an end after the first part of qualifying. Eighteen drivers out of twenty were within one second despite the above-average circuit length.
After the end of Q1, the race directorate began investigating Ferrari drivers Leclerc and Sainz for failing to maintain maximum times after exiting the pits.
Second part of qualifying (Q2)
Nine different teams featured in the middle part of qualifying, in which Verstappen again set the fastest time, this time it was an attempt of 1:20.937. However, the two Ferrari drivers were not too far behind the world champion. Only 54 thousandths separated the leading trio.
The last attempts did not bring many significant improvements. Lewis Hamilton dug himself out of the final five in five twelve with his best time. The seven-time champion was sixth, just ahead of teammate George Russell.
As well as Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren also made it through to Q3. Albon’s fifth place still promised to at least replicate the result from the Dutch GP, in which the Thai driver finished fourth.
With Stroll eliminated in Q1, Fernando Alonso had no choice but to try to push the Aston Martin at least with his car into the final chapter of qualifying. The Spaniard succeeded after all.
Júki Cunoda, Liam Lawson, Nico Hülkenberg, Valtteri Bottas and Logan Sargeant failed to see the light of Q3 in the Italian GP.
Third part of qualifying (Q3)
Six teams remain in contention for pole position at the Monza circuit. The first attempts opened with Verstappen taking the provisional top spot despite a short trip through the duck. However, his time was bettered by both Leclerc and Sainz. All the tifosi’s heartbeats doubled at once, with Ferrari taking the provisional front row!
Relative outsider Mercedes managed to squeeze the car into provisional second row thanks to Russell. Albon was sitting in fifth place with his Williams and only behind him was the second red bull of Pérez. The rest of the top 10 was: Norris, Piastri, Hamilton and Alonso.
This time Alonso was the first to go out for second attempts, followed by Leclerc and Verstappen. Alonso didn’t improve his attempt, but Leclerc did, with a time of 1:20.361. The Monegasque was immediately beaten by Verstappen by 54 thousandths. However, the short-lived depressing moment for the home crowd was cut short by Sainz with an even faster attempt. However, the difference between Sainz and Verstappen remained at just thirteen thousandths!
Russell remained on the second row even after the second attempts were completed, followed by Pérez and Albon who will start Sunday’s race. Row four fell into the lap of Piastro and Hamilton, while Norris and Alonso had to settle for row five.
After the end of Q3, the race directorate issued a statement saying that they had ended their investigation into the Ferrari drivers, which finally reassured all their fans. Sainz thus became the fourth different poleman in a row for good. Alongside this, the freshly 29-year-old native of Madrid earned his fourth career pole position.
In the attached Twitter post below, you can see the overall results of Saturday’s qualifying session.
Source: F1
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