Lewis Hamilton took his first pole position since May’s Spanish Grand Prix by setting the pace in qualifying at Monza.
The Mercedes driver dominated all three segments for qualifying at the Italian Grand Prix. His team-mate and championship rival Nico Rosberg had to settle with second place.
Hamilton set his provisional pole lap of one minute, 24.109 seconds on his first run in Q3. This was four tenths clear over Rosberg and it was good enough to score his 36th career pole in Formula 1.
Rosberg did improved his lap time thanks to a second Q3 attempt, but it was not enough to knock his team-mate off top spot.
Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa locked out the second row for Williams, both drivers unable to improve on their second runs.
But behind them was the big winner of the final seconds of qualifying, Kevin Magnussen, who leaped from eighth to fifth with his final attempt.
His McLaren team-mate Jenson Button was sixth after failing to improve on his final run, just ahead of Fernando Alonso.
The Ferrari driver had made a slight improvement on his final attempt to relegate Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel to eighth position.
Daniel Ricciardo and Sergio Perez in the Force India completed the top ten at Monza.
Daniil Kvyat was the quickest of those eliminated in Q2 despite a valiant attempt to snatch a place in the pole position shootout on the last lap.
However, the Toro Rosso driver will be given a ten-place grid penalty for using his sixth engine of the season.
Raikkonen ended up P12 ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne, with Nico Hulkenberg unable to match his Force India team-mate Perez and down in P14.
Adrian Sutil prevailed in the intra-Sauber battle with Esteban Gutierrez by improving on his final run.
This was a difficult qualifying session for Lotus. Pastor Maldonado edged out his team-mate Romain Grosjean, but both will start right at the back.
Grosjean was only able to complete five laps thanks to the team having to fix a fluid leak detected in the build-up to the session.
Kamui Kobayashi, reinstated in the lead Caterham after sitting out the Belgian Grand Prix, was a superb P19 ahead of Jules Bianchi thanks to a combination of an excellent lap and a tow from team-mate Marcus Ericsson.
Ericsson ended up in P22, three tenths behind the Marussia of Max Chilton.
So it’s another Silver Arrows front row with the top six cars powered by the Mercedes-Benz power unit.
Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix is going to be fascinating and the race to the first chicane on the opening lap between the Mercedes drivers is going be frantic following what happened at Spa…
Qualifying positions, Italian Grand Prix:
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m24.109s
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m24.383s
3 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1m24.697s
4 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1m24.865s
5 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1m25.314s
6 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m25.379s
7 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m25.430s
8 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m25.436s
9 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1m25.709s
10 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1m25.944s
11 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m26.110s
12 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Renault 1m26.157s
13 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m26.279s
14 Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 1m26.588s
15 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m26.692s
16 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 1m27.520s
17 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m27.632s
18 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 1m27.671s
19 Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 1m27.738s
20 Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 1m28.247s
21 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Renault 1m26.070s*
22 Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 1m28.562s
*Ten-place grid penalty for a power unit change
Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg say Mercedes Formula 1 team chiefs’ warnings after their Belgian Grand Prix clash will not make much difference to how they battle in Italy.
A fortnight on from the Spa collision that exploded Rosberg and Hamilton’s 2014 F1 world championship battle to new levels of intensity, the duo will line up on the front row again at Monza, where Hamilton was quicker by just under three tenths of a second in qualifying.
Crunch meetings were held at Mercedes’ Brackley factory last week in the wake of the Spa incident, after which the team declared that its drivers were still free to race but absolutely could not make contact again.
But asked if that warning would be on his mind in Sunday’s Italian GP, poleman Hamilton replied: “It won’t be ringing in my ears.
“We are free to race. That was the decision last week so it continues as usual.”
Rosberg said as Mercedes had always been clear that collisions were unacceptable, there was no need for any rethink in how to race each other.
“It has not changed since before we started the season,” said Rosberg.
“The message has been clear. There is no real change at the moment, it is the same as always.”
Both Mercedes drivers have had mechanical issues through the weekend, with electronics-related problems sidelining Hamilton for much of practice two and Rosberg for all of practice three.
Hamilton said this was no great concern for the race.
“I’ve had it quite a few times on my side of the garage,” he said. “I feel optimistic, the guys have rectified any problems we have had this weekend.
“[Fearing problems] is a not a mindset we can go into a race with.”
Source: Autosport.com
Caterham’s Marcus Ericsson has been penalised and will start the Italian Grand Prix from the pits. Autosport.com has the details.
Marcus Ericsson will have to start the Italian Grand Prix from the pitlane after the Formula 1 stewards ruled that he had failed to heed yellow flags in final practice.
As Ericsson qualified last in the 22-car field anyway, he cannot take a grid demotion and must therefore take the pitlane start.
The incident occurred at the Curva Grande, where Sergio Perez had parked his Force India with a hydraulic problem, during practice three.
A report from the stewards, who are assisted by ex-F1 driver Derek Warwick this weekend, said that Caterham’s telemetry showed Ericsson “did not slow for double waved yellow flags” at the Curva Grande.
Ericsson is the second driver to receive a penalty heading into the Italian GP, after Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat was demoted from 11th to 21st on the grid due to having to take his sixth engine of the 2014 season.
While Ericsson has had a troubled day, his Caterham team-mate Kamui Kobayashi buoyed the squad by beating both Marussias in qualifying – putting him 18th once Kvyat’s penalty is applied.
It marked the first time since the Chinese GP in April that a Caterham had managed to beat both Marussias in qualifying.
“I’m very happy with today’s qualifying result,” said Kobayashi, who only had a last-minute call-up to rejoin the team this weekend after being benched for Spa in favour of Andre Lotterer.
“I think the updates we introduced in Spa are working well and this is very positive news for the team.
“I didn’t have much time in the car yesterday, but I think it has been a very good comeback.”
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso has admitted that this was the best possible result at Monza. A better qualiying time would be “utterly impossible”. Autosport.com has the news story.
Fernando Alonso declared himself “completely on the limit” during Italian Grand Prix qualifying, and reckons a better result would have been impossible for Ferrari even with “100 sets of tyres”.
The double Formula 1 world champion was the quickest of the drivers not powered by Mercedes engines, but will line up down in seventh position for Ferrari’s home race at Monza.
Alonso finished over 1.3 seconds off the pace of polesitter Lewis Hamilton.
“I was completely on the limit today,” said Alonso, who outqualified team-mate Kimi Raikkonen for the 11th time in 13 races.
“I had two runs in Q2 and two runs in Q3 and I did four identical laptimes, so I could put 100 sets of tyres on and I would do identical laptimes. It was absolutely the maximum.
“It was positive for me because I see two Mercedes, two Williams, two McLarens, one Ferrari, two Red Bulls [in grid order].
“Personally I think I extracted the maximum.”
The Spaniard admitted he is not expecting to be able to challenge Mercedes or Williams in Sunday’s race, and is hoping he can beat the McLarens and the Red Bulls instead.
“Obviously Mercedes and Williams are a little bit too fast, and then there is a group of Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull quite close in one or two tenths, so hopefully we can lead that group,” he said.
“Tyre degradation will be important in the race. Probably we have to make a lot of laps with the soft and a lot of laps with the hard tyre so we just need to have everything under control if possible.”
Raikkonen, 12th in qualifying, will start from 11th position following a grid penalty to Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat.
As for The Iceman, who was knocked out in Q2. Kimi Raikkonen was left feeling mystified by his Ferrari’s handling at Monza. Autosport.com has the story.
Kimi Raikkonen was left mystified by how difficult his Ferrari Formula 1 car became to drive during Italian Grand Prix qualifying.
The Finn failed to reach Q3 and was only 12th quickest, which will become 11th on the grid due to Toro Rosso driver Daniil Kvyat’s penalty.
That was despite an encouraging run through Friday practice.
“We changed the car a little bit, but it’s hard to believe that those small changes made it as difficult as it was,” said Raikkonen.
“We had a good weekend on this side and we had no issues. Things were running smoothly, as they should always, and then we had difficulties to get grip in qualifying.
“For some reason I kept locking the fronts a bit and couldn’t find how I could make one sector good but not all of them in a row. It just got difficult for some reason.
“It was a bit of a surprise for me, an unpleasant surprise.
“We have to try to look into the details a bit and hopefully find an explanation.”
Raikkonen is still optimistic that he will be able to make progress in race trim.
“Obviously today our qualifying was not very good for me, but overall the weekend has maybe been a bit better than expected,” he said.
“We knew that qualifying would be a little bit difficult compared to some of the Mercedes people. They usually make a bigger step for that, and then it comes back a little bit for the race.
“We had a good long run yesterday, so I 100 per cent believe that we can do a much better race.
“Do we have enough speed to overtake people? We will know tomorrow. But I believe that we should be stronger than today.”
McLaren drivers Kevin Magnussen and Jenson Button admitted they were surprised by their Formula 1 team’s performance during qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix.
The McLaren duo will share the third row of the grid after qualifying in fifth and sixth positions, with Magnussen ahead of Button.
The combined performance was one of the strongest from the Woking-based squad this season, and the Dane said it was unexpected following free practice.
“I didn’t think our qualifying pace would be that strong,” admitted Magnussen.
“I have a feeling that our race pace is quite good so to start P5 and P6 is good.
“I’m really happy to have Mercedes power on such long straights. Hopefully we can challenge the other guys with Mercedes engines tomorrow. We’re fighting with Williams although they are some way in front of us.
“I have a feeling that our race pace is quite good and we have a car that is good to race with in terms of straight line speed and [being] good under braking.”
Button added: “It’s been pretty good all weekend actually, in terms of balance. But the middle sector wasn’t very clean through the Lesmos so I lost a bit of time there.
“But still, we’re quite far up – probably better than what we expected so it’s not too bad.”
Magnussen said, however, that thinking of a podium finish in the race was not realistic given the pace of the leading Mercedes and Williams teams.
“I don’t think so – it’s possible [but] I don’t think it’s too realistic really,” he said of his podium chances.
“Anything can happen – it’s Monza [and] anything can happen with the long straights and everything – overtaking is possible. We’re realistic that tomorrow may be tough but I think that we will have a fun race tomorrow.”
Source: Autosport.com
Williams have admitted that if the Mercedes drivers clash again on track, the team are ready ‘to pick up the pieces’. Autosport.com has the news story.
The Williams Formula 1 team is “ready to pick up the pieces” if Mercedes slips up again in the Italian Grand Prix, according to performance chief Rob Smedley.
Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa qualified third and fourth for Sunday’s Monza race, directly behind the dominant Mercedes of poleman Lewis Hamilton and championship leader Nico Rosberg.
Hamilton and Rosberg clashed controversially on the second lap of the previous race in Belgium, allowing Daniel Ricciardo to win for Red Bull.
Smedley admitted Williams would have been in a position to win that race had it not struggled in wet qualifying at Spa, but reckons the fact it has maximised its potential at Monza means it will be in good shape if the Mercedes drivers slip up again.
“We certainly had the potential to be third and fourth here – that was always on the cards if we got everything perfect,” Smedley said.
“You have to pay homage to the fact Lewis is six tenths in front of Valtteri.
“Valtteri’s lap was very clean – I think that’s as fast as the car would go.
“His [Hamilton’s] middle sector was quite stunning, so hats off to the lad he’s done a great job.
“On race pace he didn’t run on Friday; Nico looked like he suffered a bit more with degradation, so can we race with them? It’s a possibility, but if they get everything perfect it will be very, very difficult for us.
“But we’ll be there to pick up the pieces if they don’t.”
Rosberg admitted Mercedes would have to watch out for Bottas in particular in the race, rather than simply concentrating on an intra-team duel at the front.
“I was not happy with the car yesterday, it really didn’t feel good,” Rosberg said.
“Today in qualifying it did, so I’m optimistic for the race, but Williams had a very strong long-run yesterday so we need to keep an open mind about that and see how we are doing tomorrow, but I think we will be OK.
“He [Bottas] is definitely a strong competitor of ours and we need to keep an eye on him.
“He had a very good run on Friday, also with the high fuel, so they [Williams] could be tough to beat tomorrow for sure.”
Toto Wolff has commented that a certain crash won’t be repeated in the Italian Grand Prix, following on that controversial moment between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton in the previous race at Spa. Autosport.com has the full details.
Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff has total confidence that there will not be another collision between his Formula 1 drivers Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton in the Italian Grand Prix.
Just a fortnight on from a controversial tangle at Spa-Francorchamps, Wolff thinks that Rosberg and Hamilton are fully aware that a repeat crash will not be tolerated.
“I think it is pretty clear where the line is for tomorrow,” said Wolff, when asked by AUTOSPORT about how hopeful he was of there being no trouble in the Monza F1 race.
“And I have no doubt that this is how the race is going to pan out.”
But despite the faith in his drivers, Wolff said that there would likely be a reminder to both men about not getting involved in anything risky early on.
“Because we didn’t know the [grid] line-up we didn’t have the discussion yet,” he said.
“But you can see that the two of them are so professional and experienced, that after the discussions we had in the week after Spa it should be pretty obvious and clear about what is going to happen tomorrow.
“But I guess we are going to have that discussion as always, the strategy discussion, and one of the points is going to be what is happening in the first couple of laps.”
Hamilton and Rosberg share the front row again for Sunday’s race.
DRIVERS’ APPROACH UNCHANGED
Although Mercedes faced intense talks after Belgium over happened there, both its drivers are adamant that they will not be changing the way they deal with each other from now on.
Hamilton said: “Nothing changes. I do what I do all the time. I’ve been racing for many, many years and I’ve not been colliding with too many people so I will just continue to race the way I do.”
Rosberg added: “How we race is just as we have been racing the whole season. The instructions have been very, very clear from the word go and it just continues like that.
“So there’s no change and, as before, we have to be careful.”