Red Bull driver Max Verstappen pulled another lap out of the bag to claim pole position for the Italian Grand Prix, pipping McLaren rivals Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in an incredibly close Qualifying session at Monza.
Following their “very tough” weekend at the Temple of Speed last season, Verstappen and Red Bull have looked much more competitive at this year’s event, with the Dutchman emerging as a genuine threat to McLaren’s supremacy.
As a heart-stopping Qualifying hour drew to a close, Verstappen initially led the way in the decisive Q3 phase, before being overhauled by Norris but then fighting back with a blistering lap of 1m 18.792s to seal P1 by 0.077s.
Piastri was 0.190s back in third, from the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, who could not quite deliver enough for the front row – the seven-time World Champion nonetheless losing five places with his pre-event grid penalty.
Mercedes used a different tyre strategy to their rivals when Qualifying began, starting out on the medium tyres, before the transition to softs yielded sixth and seventh on the grid for George Russell and home driver Kimi Antonelli respectively.
Gabriel Bortoleto was one of Saturday’s stars en route to eighth for Kick Sauber, continuing the outfit’s positive trajectory under new team boss Jonathan Wheatley, while Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda completed the top 10.
Ollie Bearman led the Haas team’s charge in 11th, missing out on a Q3 spot by just one hundredth of a second, with Nico Hulkenberg 12th in the second of the Kick Sauber machines after struggling to match the pace of high-flying team mate Bortoleto.
Williams caught the eye during Friday practice but slipped down the order through FP3 and failed to make an impression in the grid-deciding session – Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon having to settle for 13th and 14th places from the other Haas of Esteban Ocon.
After his dream run to a maiden podium finish at the Dutch Grand Prix last time out, Isack Hadjar suffered a painful Q1 exit, having made a mistake on his final run, leaving the Racing Bulls rookie 16th for Sunday’s race over the other Aston Martin of Lance Stroll.
Franco Colapinto experienced a difficult start to the Monza weekend but managed to out-pace Alpine team mate Pierre Gasly in Qualifying, on the day of the Frenchman’s contract renewal, while Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) lost a lap to track limits and wound up slowest.
After three practice sessions around Monza, one topped by home favourites Ferrari and two by McLaren, attention turned to the all-important Qualifying hour, which got under way in front of a passionate capacity crowd at 1600 local time.
When the green light switched on at the end of the pit lane, there was a slight divergence in tyre strategy, with the majority of the field opting for Pirelli’s soft compound tyres from the outset but Mercedes pair Antonelli and Russell initially running mediums.
While McLaren, Racing Bulls and Williams driver Albon bided their time in the pit lane, Leclerc brought the first cheers from the Tifosi by clocking an early benchmark of 1m 19.801s, before Hamilton slotted into second by lapping just over a tenth slower.
McLaren made their first move a few minutes later, Norris going quickest on a 1m 19.611s and Piastri making it a papaya 1-2, while there was trouble for Williams as both Sainz (exiting Lesmo 2) and Albon (at the first chicane) lost track limes for exceeding track limits.
As the McLarens headed to the pits for a reset, a host of drivers got second runs on the board – medium-shod Russell moving to the top with a 1m 19.414s, Sainz bouncing back to go third for Williams, and Alonso, Bortoleto and Leclerc all getting ahead of Piastri.
At the other end of the order, the Alpines of Gasly and Colapinto, Antonelli, the Haas of Ocon and the Racing Bulls of Lawson were all in the drop zone. “The balance was okay, I just had no grip,” reported Antonelli after that first sequence on mediums.
“Guys, I’m alone in front, exactly what we said we shouldn’t do,” sighed Ocon as he led the field back out for the decisive final runs, the Frenchman having to punch a hole in the air ahead while drivers behind positioned themselves for distant tows.
With green and purple sector times being pumped in, there were changes all over the timing screen through to the chequered flag and beyond – just over four-tenths of a second ultimately separating pace-setter Russell and the Q2 cut-off.
Hadjar was the driver who narrowly missed out after an out-lap tussle with Sainz and a moment exiting Lesmo 2, which yielded a hugely frustrated radio message, while Stroll, Colapinto, Gasly and Lawson (who ran wide at Lesmo 1 and lost a lap time) also dropped out.
Russell remained in the pits and in P1 as the opening phase drew to a close, ahead of Verstappen, Norris, Tsunoda and Sainz, with Alonso, Bortoleto, Bearman, Leclerc and Piastri completing the top 10. Antonelli and Hamilton made it through in P11 and P12 respectively.
By F1
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