Charles Leclerc scored a popular pole position in front of the passionate Tifosi at Monza. Championship leader Max Verstappen qualified in second with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz third but both will drop several grid positions due to exceeding power unit.
Regardless of Verstappen taking a five-place grid drop for a new internal combustion engine, Leclerc set the pace by a quarter of a second to the delight of the home fans as Sainz, who will start at the back of the grid, clocked third over Sergio Perez.
Ferrari had provisionally secured a 1-2 in Q3 as Sainz delivered a one minute, 20.584 seconds on his first run in Q3, helped by a purple run through sector one, to edge Leclerc’s one minute, 20.770 seconds effort.
Verstappen initially settled for third, despite his second-sector prowess, as he was a little under a tenth adrift of the second F1-75.
And then for the climax, it looked as though the Red Bull might offer a last-ditch reply when Verstappen clocked the fastest run through the middle part of the circuit yet again to heap on the pressure.
Even though Leclerc had been a couple of hundredths slower than Sainz’s benchmark in S1 and never stitched together a purple sector, his combined effort scored a peerless one minute, 20.161 seconds.
That gave him the bragging rights over Verstappen’s one minute, 20.306 seconds even before the RB18 takes up sixth on the grid as Sainz ran to a one minute, 20.429 seconds.
With Perez dropping ten places – Check having been a league behind the top three as he 0.8 seconds down on the sister Red Bull – and Lewis Hamilton another driver exceeding his permitted parts limit, George Russell will start alongside Leclerc.
This came despite the Mercedes W13 again struggling to heat its tyres.
Lando Norris, meanwhile, snared seventh fastest over Daniel Ricciardo as Pierre Gasly did enough to pip Alpine’s Fernando Alonso – the double champion aborting his final run.
Gasly had fired himself into the top ten shootout courtesy of a one minute, 22.062 seconds effort in Q2 to find 0.07 seconds over Esteban Ocon, the Alpine driver missing out in P11 after running slower in the first and second sectors compared to his previous lap.
Gasly escaped the stewards’ attention for being released side-by-side with Lando Norris as part of a late flurry to find track position when all left the garages with two minutes and 20 seconds to go.
Valtteri Bottas, who struggled on the brakes throughout practice, ran to P12 ahead of Formula E champion and Alex Albon replacement Nyck de Vries aboard the Williams.
De Vries had been complaining in his first-ever F1 qualifying session of struggling on the brakes into the first chicane, but his final flying lap was scuppered later in the lap.
On the approach to the second chicane, the former Formula 2 and Formula E champion locked the rears to suffer a big snap which he eventually caught, but immediately knew his qualifying session was done.
Despite that error, he put the FW44’s straight-line speed supremacy to good use to take a solid P14 ahead of Zhou Guanyu’s Alfa Romeo and Yuki Tsunoda.
The AlphaTauri driver, who joins Hamilton and Sainz with a back of the grid penalty, did not take part in Q2.
That came after Verstappen became the first driver of the weekend to fall below one minute, 21 seconds, having topped the 18-minute Q1 by 0.35 seconds over Leclerc courtesy of his one minute, 20.922 seconds flier.
But it was less rosy for Nicholas Latifi, whose struggles on the brakes eliminated him in the first part of qualifying as he lapped just two hundredths slower than de Vries’s first go.
Subbing for an appendicitis-sidelined Alex Albon, de Vries hung on for a Q2 appearance despite his final faster lap in Q1 behind scrubbed for pushing his luck with track limits.
Sebastian Vettel, meanwhile, continued his run of Q1 exits in P17 while Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll was only P18 as Haas brought up the rear.
It was a messy session for both VF-22s, as Kevin Magnussen twice had his times deleted for exceeding track limits thanks to a brace of offences at the second Lesmo.
Mick Schumacher, who was stymied in practice by clutch issues, ran slowest after a considerable front-right lock up into the first chicane to run straight on.
So congratulations to Charles Leclerc. To take pole position in the Italian Grand Prix driving a Ferrari in the team’s home event is a rewarding and with so many drivers with grid penalties this is the best chance for Leclerc to win the race.
Italian Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:20.161
2 George Russell Mercedes 1:21.542
3 Lando Norris McLaren 1:21.584
4 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 1:21.925
5 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1:22.648
6 Fernando Alonso Alpine No time
7 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:20.306
8 Nyck de Vries Williams 1:22.471
9 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1:22.577
10 Nicholas Latifi Williams 1:22.587
11 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 1:22.636
12 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:22.748
13 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:21.206
14 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:22.130
15 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1:22.235
16 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:22.908
17 Mick Schumacher Haas 1:23.005
18 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:20.429
19 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:21.524
20 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri No time
Italian Grand Prix qualifying review as reported by Formula1.com.
Charles Leclerc took pole position in qualifying for the 2022 Italian Grand Prix ahead of Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz, both of whom will drop down the order once grid penalties are applied, as George Russell jumps up to the front row.
Leclerc’s time of 1m 20.161s put him on pole by 0.145s over Red Bull’s Verstappen, while Sainz was 0.268s off his team mate in P3. Verstappen has a five-place penalty, however, while Sainz will drop to 18th. While Sergio Perez qualified fourth for Red Bull, he will drop 10 places – with fifth-place qualifier Lewis Hamilton to drop to the back row alongside Yuki Tsunoda.
Therefore, Russell will start second despite qualifying sixth. McLaren’s Lando Norris qualified seventh to guarantee a second-row start, while Daniel Ricciardo is set to be promoted after qualifying eighth. Fernando Alonso did not set a time for Alpine in Q3, but will be promoted behind AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly.
Esteban Ocon lost out on the top-10 shootout in P11, ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas. Substituting for Williams’ appendicitis-struck driver Alex Albon, Nyck de Vries finished 13th in his first F1 qualifying but is set for a top-10 start on his debut.
Esteban Ocon and Valtteri Bottas finished 11th and 12th before their respective five and 15-place grid penalties kick in. Zhou Guanyu qualified 14th and will also be promoted ahead of Ocon and Bottas – but having sat out Q2, back-of-grid starter Tsunoda will drop to P20 for Sunday’s race.
As Alfa Romeo’s Bottas snuck out of Q1, Nicholas Latifi managed a pre-penalty promotion 16th ahead of Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, with Vettel’s team mate Lance Stroll taking 18th in Q1. The Haas drivers rounded out the qualifying results, with Kevin Magnussen 19th and Mick Schumacher 20th – that pair to start 16th and 17th as Sainz, Hamilton and Tsunoda drop to the back of the grid.
Will Leclerc win the 2022 Italian Grand Prix from pole position, or will we witness a recovery drive from one of the nine penalised drivers at Monza?
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc commented that this Monza Formula 1 pole is “a great surprise” after recent struggles. Motorsport.com has the details.
Charles Leclerc said his pole on Ferrari’s home soil at Formula 1’s Italian Grand Prix was a “great surprise” after struggling to match Red Bull in previous races.
Leclerc was the lone favourite to start Sunday’s race from pole given the grid penalties for his teammate Carlos Sainz and both Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.
But as Ferrari showed plenty of pace around the cathedral of speed, Leclerc was determined to take pole on merit and duly did with his final run in Q3.
After trailing Sainz by two tenths following the first barrage of runs, the Monegasque set a lap of 1m20.161s to jump Sainz’s 1m20.429s.
Verstappen was next across the line, but settled in between the two Ferrari drivers in second after trailing Leclerc by 0.145s, much to the delight of the scarlet tifosi at the start-finish line.
Leclerc admitted his eighth pole of the season was a “very good surprise” after not expecting to be able to defeat Verstappen and Red Bull, given Ferrari struggled at the similarly high-speed Spa.
“It’s a very good surprise today, especially where we came from in Spa,” he said.
“I did not expect to fight for pole here, so it’s great surprise to have pole at home.
“In FP1 and FP2 we tested a lot of things across cars with Carlos and we found different directions that were interesting.
“We were really struggling at Spa, and we found some pace. It shows we are going in the right direction.
“The lap I’m extremely happy with. The first run I didn’t do a great lap but then I managed to put everything together.”
On Friday Leclerc said he was even happier with his Ferrari’s race pace than its one-lap potential, and after his pole he re-iterated his confidence that he can finish off the job on Sunday.
“Our race pace is strong, the feeling was really good,” he said after steeping out of the car.
“Whatever happens on the first lap, I think we still have the pace to win the race. I think we can have a good Sunday.”
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen believes he has a “good chance” of beating Charles Leclerc despite grid penalty. Motorsport.com has the full story.
Max Verstappen believes Red Bull’s set-up compromises for the Italian Grand Prix leave him with a “good chance” of overcoming a grid penalty to beat polesitter Charles Leclerc for victory.
The defending Formula 1 world champion ran second in qualifying at Monza as he ceded 0.145s to Leclerc, while the other Ferrari of Carlos Sainz ran third and 0.268s adrift.
But Verstappen carries a five-place grid penalty into the race following a change of internal combustion engine on the advice of supplier Honda, as per team boss Christian Horner.
Verstappen felt he missed out on topping the leaderboard owing to a lack of top speed and a loss of grip through the first sector as his RB18 ran with a higher downforce rear wing specification carried over from Spa.
Nevertheless, the Dutch driver reckons this will pay off in the GP when he expects reduced tyre wear compared to the Ferraris, which he reckoned looked nervous and will struggle on high fuel.
Asked by Motorsport.com whether he was pleased with the concessions the Red Bull engineers had made, Verstappen said: “I think compared to some other cars, we still have very good top speed.
“It’s just the Ferraris are a little bit faster than us on the straights.”
As a result, Verstappen says that despite the reduced effect of the tow following the return of ground effects for 2022, he can quickly pick off rivals to take the fight to Leclerc.
Verstappen continued: “I’m still expecting to get through the field. Once I get close to Charles, it will be a bit more of a battle. But then we have to rely on a bit more balance through the corners.
“We chose, of course, to make the downforce a little bit higher compared to some other cars. But it felt alright. And around here, qualifying to race can always feel a bit different.
“My race runs, they were really good [in Friday practice]. With what I’ve seen from the long runs, it looks good for our side.
“I just need to clear the cars in between us quite quickly and then I think we still have a good chance.”
There was some initial ambiguity over exactly where Verstappen will line up on the grid.
Owing to the five-place penalty, he will drop to seventh on the grid.
However, there were suggestions he might line up fourth given that Sainz, and Lewis Hamilton in fifth all have back-of-the-grid reprimands for exceeding permitted parts limits.
Asked if the confusion meant the penalty system was excessively complicated, Verstappen fought back with: “Unless I’m stupid, I think it’s P7. You need to read the rules.”
Mercedes driver George Russell says “we don’t deserve to be starting P2” for the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix after a “frustrating” qualifying.
Russell finished sixth in Saturday’s qualifying at Monza, having been outpaced by teammate Lewis Hamilton in fifth and missing out on pole by 1.3 seconds.
But grid penalties for Hamilton, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Red Bull duo Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez ahead mean Russell will be promoted to second alongside poleman Charles Leclerc.
The Briton feels this starting position wasn’t warranted by his pace in qualifying having been unable to “get the car in that sweet spot” as the W13’s inconsistency is once again plaguing Mercedes’ weekend.
“We don’t deserve to be starting P2 after today’s performance,” Russell said.
“It was again a frustrating session because we can’t seem to get the car in that sweet spot.
“FP1 the car felt great, in FP2, FP3 substantially worse. In Q1, the car felt great, [we were] a few tenths off Ferrari. Q2 was worse, Q3 was worse.
“But ultimately that’s been a theme this season. Lining up P2 we’ll have a faster race car, probably not fast enough to battle with Max, potentially [we can fight] Charles.”
The changing behaviour of the car between sessions has stumped both Russell and Mercedes, and finds it “disappointing” that no fix has been found this late into the season.
Russell says Mercedes is in a “no man’s land” in terms of qualifying performance, but feels the car is fast enough in race trim to fight for the podium at Monza.
“I’d love to tell you,” he responded when asked if set-up tweaks were causing his issues.
“We’ve got the best engineers in the business working day and night to understand why our performance is fluctuating so much 15 races in and we still don’t have a grasp as to why that is.
“So, that is a bit disappointing.
“We are in no man’s land on a Saturday in terms of performance because we’re so far behind the front two and a little bit ahead of the midfield. At least we have a fast race car.”
Source: Motorsport.com