Round 15/24: Review of the Italian Grand Prix Qualifying

Centered Image
Image Credits: www.motorsport.com

McLaren clinched the front row for the Italian Grand Prix with Lando Norris on the pole and his teammate Oscar Piastri alongside him. The driver’s championship is expected to get more closer in the coming races with Max Verstappen only qualifying in P7. George Russel and Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes qualified P3 and P4 while the home favorites Ferrari pair could only take the third row.

Q1

The session filled with hopes of the home favorite pole position started with Carlos Sainz going into the gravel aborting his lap while Charles Leclerc went fastest on his run. Leclerc’s time was later bettered by Norris, who was up to speed and dominated the qualifying session right from his first lap. Verstappen could only muster P3 in his first run while being over 3 tenths away from his championship rival. At the other end of the spectra, it was the newcomer Franco Colapinto in P16 just 2 thousandths of a second behind Daniel Ricciardo in P15. Yuki Tsunoda, Valtteri Bottas, Sergio Perez, and Zhou Guanyu were the other drivers at risk.

Perez ended up in P19 as he made a mistake during his first run but quickly recovered to P9 in his second run. Colapinto went aggressive during his lap and ended up in the gravel bringing out the yellow flag briefly. Tsunoda and Ricciardo battled it out for the last position with the Australian edging out his teammate to finish P15. Lance Stroll didn’t have a great session as he could only finish P16 while the Saubers finished P19 and P20. Kevin Magnussen though qualified into the second row, managed to go into the gravel during the dying seconds of Q1 but managed to keep his car going.

Q2

The Ferraris started the session on scrubbed softs while the McLarens and Red Bulls went with new tyres immediately. Strangely though the Ferraris returned for another run on new softs immediately after their first runs. Again, it was Norris who lit the timings chart with Piastri following him closely while Verstappen remained in P3, though by half the margin as in Q1. Fernando Alonso, Kevin Magnussen, the Alpines of Pierre Gasly & Esteban Ocon, and Ricciardo were the drivers in the elimination zone after the first runs.

All the drivers in the elimination zone were eliminated at the end of Q2 as no one managed to improve much. Alexander Albon and Nico Hulkenberg finished in P9 and P10 as both qualified for Q3 for the 7th time this season. Meanwhile, Hamilton topped the session with Verstappen finishing in P2 on scrubbed softs. Interestingly, Verstappen couldn’t surpass this time in either attempt in his Q3 session.

Q3

McLaren seemed to have the advantage coming into Q3 but other teams were not out of the fight either. Norris and Piastri fought tooth and neck during their first run to get the provisional pole with Norris edging the battle with three-hundredths of a second lead. Verstappen managed to match the McLarens during sectors 1 and 2 but possibly made a mistake in sector 3 finishing a whopping seven-tenths of a second behind his championship rival. The Ferraris took the second row being 3 tenths slower than the McLarens before the Mercedes drivers snatched it away from them.

For the second runs, the Red Bulls were the first to come out with Perez leading Verstappen possibly looking for a tow. However, in no part of the lap was Verstappen comfortable as his sector times were slower even compared to his first run. In the end, he could only improve marginally getting P7 from his teammate. Piastri couldn’t improve either but Norris managed to find a little over seven-hundredths of a second on his own time, claiming the pole position. The Ferraris beat Hamilton while Russel managed to stay in P3.

Position Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Q3
1 Lando Norris McLaren Mercedes 1:19.911 1:19.727 1:19.327
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren Mercedes 1:20.076 1:19.808 1:19.436
3 George Russell Mercedes 1:20.169 1:19.877 1:19.440
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:20.074 1:20.007 1:19.461
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:20.149 1:19.799 1:19.467
6 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:20.477 1:19.641 1:19.513
7 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT 1:20.226 1:19.662 1:20.022
8 Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT 1:20.598 1:20.216 1:20.062
9 Alexander Albon Williams Mercedes 1:20.542 1:20.314 1:20.299
10 Nico Hulkenberg Haas Ferrari 1:20.781 1:20.411 1:20.339
11 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes 1:20.617 1:20.421
12 Daniel Ricciardo RB Honda RBPT 1:20.901 1:20.479
13 Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari 1:20.856 1:20.698
14 Pierre Gasly Alpine Renault 1:20.748 1:20.738
15 Esteban Ocon Alpine Renault 1:20.764 1:20.766
16 Yuki Tsunoda RB Honda RBPT 1:20.945
17 Lance Stroll Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes 1:21.013
18 Franco Colapinto Williams Mercedes 1:21.061
19 Valtteri Bottas Kick Sauber Ferrari 1:21.101
20 Zhou Guanyu Kick Sauber Ferrari 1:21.445

References

  1. Image Credits: www.motorsport.com
  2. Thumbnail Image Credits: www.motorsport.com
  3. Timing Sheet Credits: www.formula1.com