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Close margins and strategic runs defined Formula 1 Qualifying at Monza for the Italian Grand Prix.
Pole position was won by Lando Norris, who took his second consecutive pole ahead of his teammate Oscar Piastri and Mercedes’ George Russell.
Free Practice showed a mixed bag of results, Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc topping FP1 before Lewis Hamilton took P1 in both FP2 and Fp3.
A driver change ahead of the weekend added to the unknowns of the session, as Franco Colapinto made his debut for Williams Racing, replacing Logan Sargeant.
Q1:
The Ferrari drivers were amongst the first out for Q1, Leclerc topping the sheets early on in the session with a lap time of 1:20.074. The Haas drivers slotted in behind him before Verstappen came through to second place, a tenth and a half behind Leclerc.
Norris was the first driver into the 1:19s range, putting his McLaren in P1 with a little over ten minutes to go. The Mercedes drivers slotted into fourth and fifth, Russell ahead of Hamilton.
Then Sainz, who had struggled slightly in the first part of the session, went third ahead of Verstappen and comfortably outside of the elimination zone. The drivers not comfortably out of the elimination zone with five minutes left were Colapinto, Yuki Tsunoda, both Kick Sauber drivers, and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.
Alex Albon, out on track by himself when almost everyone was back in the pit lane, managed to get up to eighth, putting a bit of a gap between himself and the elimination zone. Perez, also out on track in the quiet, only managed to go ninth.
The top three and Albon all elected not to come out for a final lap, as a brief yellow flag for Kevin Magnussen going off at the Parabolica slowed a few people down.
McLaren’s Piastri managed to improve into the top three, and Verstappen would have as well, had he not backed off his lap right before the finish line.
A quick trip over the kerb and through the gravel ruined Colapinto’s lap and lost him any chance of getting through to Q2, as Lance Stroll and Yuki Tsunoda joined the Kick Sauber pairing as the first drivers to get eliminated in today’s Qualifying session in Monza.
Eliminated in Q1:
16. Yuki Tsunoda
17. Lance Stroll
18. Franco Colapinto
19. Valtteri Bottas
20. Zhou Guanyu
Q2:
There was a delay to the start of Q2 as the marshals swept up stray gravel on the track. The Ferraris were again among the first on track once the session did start, Leclerc posting a time of 1:20.296 to take the top spot ahead of his teammate within the first few minutes.
Then Verstappen broke the 1:19s mark, setting a 1:19.874 to go to the top. Just seconds later, Piastri topped his time by less than a tenth, and seconds after that Norris topped Piastri’s time by less than a tenth.
With eight minutes to go in Q2, the Mercedes cars set their first laps of the session on new tyres, Russell going fourth and Hamilton going all the way up to P1 with a time of 1:19.641.
Ferrari began to struggle a bit as Sainz improved to third on his second lap but Leclerc failed to improve on his seventh place, saying on the radio to his team that the car was “not turning at all”.
Fernando Alonso was in the elimination zone as everyone came back to the pits for a break, along with Magnussen, the Alpine pair of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon, and Daniel Ricciardo.
Magnussen was unable to improve when he came back out on track, and his teammate Nico Hulkenberg set the quickest Sector 1 of the session so far but also was unable to improve on his spot of ninth place.
Albon, the driver at risk in tenth place, improved on his final lap, but only one place to ninth. Still, with the chequered flag out for the session and not many improvements on the board, he managed to get through to Q3.
Hamilton, Verstappen, and Norris remained the top three through to the end of the session and headed into the final part of Qualifying to fight for pole position.
Eliminated in Q2:
11. Fernando Alonso
12. Daniel Ricciardo
13. Kevin Magnussen
14. Pierre Gasly
15. Esteban Ocon
Q3:
The final session in Monza saw both Red Bulls, both Mercedes, both Ferraris, and both McLarens get a chance at pole, as well as the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg and the Williams of Alex Albon.
The McLarens pulled out a strong performance early on, Norris setting a 1:19.401 to take provisional pole on his first lap, with Piastri close behind. Russell and Hamilton slotted into fourth and fifth respectively, with Sainz and Leclerc following them and Perez and Verstappen next.
So McLaren, Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull lined up neatly in that order after their first set of laps, Hulkenberg ahead of Albon to complete the top ten.
With three minutes to go, everyone was out for their final chance at taking the top spot. Verstappen, slower in the first two sectors than his previous time, improved in the final few corners to go ahead of his teammate, cementing his seventh place finish.
Meanwhile, Piastri couldn’t improve on second, while Norris went faster to make his pole time an unbeatable 1:19.327. The Ferraris managed to jump up to third and fourth, before Russell beat out Sainz for the third place for the Italian Grand Prix, taking place tomorrow in Monza.
Feature Image Credit: Stefano Guidi – Getty Images
