Qualifying kicked off in Monza with high expectations on the Mercedes and Ferrari garage after an FP3 in early Saturday morning that saw the team from Brackley leading the session with a 1-2 and Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari with a promising pace ahead of racing in front of the Italian Tifosis.
Q1
Maranello’s home drivers went out on track to steal purple sectors, as Carlos Sainz claimed the first and Charles Leclerc the second. The Monegasque was, however, the fastest with 1:20.074s, as Sainz called off his first attempt after a driving mistake made him put the SF-24 in the gravel at the Second Lesmo, sitting P3 after a second attempt, going quicker than Verstappen (4th at the moment) and both Mercedes drivers.
Lando Norris went fastest, 0.163s quicker than Leclerc, as teammate Piastri mimicked Sainz and lost his first shot for a fast lap after locking up at the Rettifilo chicane, sitting P7 with five minutes to go as Pérez was the last driver to set a time in Q1, setting a 1:20.598s lap that put him P9 and safely get him through the session.
With 40 seconds to go, Kevin Magnussen went off the track -as his colleagues, at the second Lesmo- and triggered a momentaneous yellow flag in sector three, forcing the drivers to slow down for a moment.
Yuki Tsunoda, Lance Stroll, Franco Colapinto in his F1 debut, Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou were the five drivers that didn’t make the cut to go through Q1 “so many cars going out ahead of me! Unbelievable!” exclaimed Zhou complaining about the hard traffic faced in the last moments of the first third part of Qualifying, as Tsunoda didn’t lose the opportunity to share his thoughts on his struggles driving the VCARB race car. “Yeah mate, it’s just so ridiculous!, It’s so difficult to drive.” the Japanese driver exclaimed.
Q2.
The start of Q2 was delayed due to the marshalls cleaning the gravel on track coming from the Second Lesmo after all Q1 incidents.
The session restarted with Ferrari first out on track out of the top pack of challengers. Leclerc went fastest from Sainz (the Monegasque always behind the Spaniard, considering the importance of the tow at Monza) as Pérez placed 3rd before Verstappen went fastest, lately being overtaken by Norris’ McLaren and Hamilton’s surprising lap in his Mercedes, just after George Russell sat P6 with the same W15.
With five minutes to go, both Brits led the table with Norris second as Sainz split the McLarens and Leclerc, sitting P7 at the moment- exclaimed his Ferrari was struggling at home soil: “The car is not turning at all. Again.”
By the end of Q2, racing in his second set of soft tyres, Verstappen found P2 with a lap that clocked 0.021s slower than Hamilton’s. The seven-time World Champion led the pack into Q3, followed by Verstappen and Norris. Ferrari placed P4 and P7 as Pérez sat P8, ahead of the last session on Qualifying with a remarkable Albon and Hülkenberg making it through.
Alonso, Ricciardo, Magnussen, Gasly and Ocon were the last drivers eliminated in the session before deciding the final order of the grid.
Q3
The temperature on track lowered 3°c allowing the cars to race faster through the circuit of Monza. The McLarens went out first -and fastest- with a gap of 0.300s to the Ferraris and 0.600s to the Red Bulls, as Norris set the quickest time with a 1:19.401, 0.035s faster than teammate Piastri.
The Mercedes drivers placed P3 and P4 with Russell and Hamilton respectively, 0.168s and 0.200s behind Norris’ time, with Sainz, Leclerc, Pérez, Verstappen, Hülkenberg and Albon being the Top 10 order with one last attempt at Qualifying to change the final starting grid.
Verstappen could only improve his P8 to P7 ahead of teammate Pérez, as Norris went 0.074s faster than his previous lap, claiming Pole Position. The battle for P3 in the grid saw the Ferraris taking the starting position from one another until George Russell finally went faster, with 0.067s of difference between Piastri’s P2 and Hamilton’s P6.
The final order will see Norris, Piastri, Russell, Leclerc and Sainz in the Top 5 for Sunday’s race. Hamilton completes the third row, ahead of Verstappen, Sergio Pérez, Alexander Albon and Nico Hülkenberg.
