Carlos Sainz takes his fourth career pole position in front of an adoring tifosi crowd, beating out Max Verstappen by just 13 thousandths of a second.
Q1
F1 trials the Alternate Tyre Allocation this week, meaning that drivers had to use hard compound tyres in Q1, and mediums in Q2. In this session, it meant that many drivers were setting multiple times on the same set to ensure heat had gotten into the tyres and ensure they can utilise improving track conditions.
There was a surprise double exit for the Alpine team. Whilst Esteban Ocon did suffer from some damage having gone wide at the Ascari chicane, Pierre Gasly setting a near identical time demonstrated that their car lacks straight line speed.
Another surprise came from Alpha Tauri, as they saw both of their cars emphatically qualify for Q2. This is notably impressive for Liam Lawson, who is only participating in his first full race weekend after covering for the injured Daniel Ricciardo last Saturday.
Both Ferrari drivers had been investigated for having gone slower than the maximum lap time allowed on their outlap, put in place to prevent drivers impeding one another as they fight for track position. However, no further action was pursued for this in the end.
ELIMINATED
16. Zhou Guanyu – Alfa Romeo +0.047
17. Pierre Gasly – Alpine +0.202
18. Esteban Ocon – Alpine +0.205
19. Kevin Magnussen – Haas +0.249
20. Lance Stroll – Aston Martin +0.517
Q2
Alpha Tauri’s day ended here, though were able to complete their best qualifying session since the Monaco Grand Prix with an 11th and 12th.
The Mercedes looked draggy throughout all of qualifying, and this put particular pressure on Lewis Hamilton to avoid facing a Q2 knockout for the second week running. He was 12th before he finished his final lap, but was able to climb up to fifth in the end.
Logan Sargeant wasn’t able to match his teammate on a track where the Williams was expected to be strong. Whilst Alex Albon was able to put himself up to 4th in Q2, Sargeant was 15th, over 3 tenths away from safety.
ELIMINATED
11. Yuki Tsunoda – Alpha Tauri +0.013
12. Liam Lawson – Alpha Tauri 0.177
13. Nico Hulkenberg – Haas +0.195
14. Valtteri Bottas – Alfa Romeo +0.359
15. Logan Sargeant – Williams +0.363
Q3
First blood had been drawn by Charles Leclerc, who was fastest following everyone’s first runs, leading a provisional Ferrari 1-2. Max Verstappen had made a small mistake having gone slightly wide at the della Roggia chicane, so it was interesting to see how much more he could improve by and see if he could snatch away pole position.
However it would be Carlos Sainz who would claim top spot in the end, setting a time only marginally quicker than both Verstappen and Leclerc, after having been quick all weekend. All three drivers set times within 7 hundredths of one another, showing how fine the margins can be in this sport.
Elsewhere in the field, Albon has made it two strong qualifying results in a row as he takes sixth place here. This result is less surprising than last week’s, however, given that the Williams has demonstrated that it is quick in a straight line this season, which perfectly suits it to a track like Monza.
Qualifying results:
1. Carlos Sainz – Ferrari 1:20.294
2. Max Verstappen – Red Bull +0.013
3. Charles Leclerc – Ferrari +0.067
4. George Russell – Mercedes +0.377
5. Sergio Perez – Red Bull +0.394
6. Alex Albon – Williams +0.466
7. Oscar Piastri– McLaren +0.491
8. Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes +0.526
9. Lando Norris – McLaren +0.685
10. Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin +1.123
