The Ferrari tifosi have tasted at least one joy in the midst of so much fiasco: seeing a red racing car, that of Charles Leclerc, beating Max Verstappen in the Monza qualifying session. The Monegasque took pole position -the eighth in 16 appointments-, without the slipstream of Carlos Sainz, and will start first in the Italian GP this Sunday (3:00 p.m.) with real chances of victory in a race with multiple penalties on the grid . The man from Madrid was third, but he will start from the bottom (18th), and Fernando Alonso was 10th and will start from seventh place.
The qualifying session began with two dissuasive shots by Max Verstappen, who had already been the fastest in the last morning free practice. The Dutchman began setting the tone with a 1m22s0, replicated by Russell and the two Ferraris, who reduced Leclerc and 7 Sainz by 8 tenths. Max returned to the charge with a superb 1m20s922, once again setting his unattainable bar for Leclerc (3 tenths) and Sainz (4).
The second qualifying heat was Ferrari’s shining moment. Sainz took command of the table, lowering Verstappen’s time by less than a tenth and left his teammate Leclerc at 0.330, the Dutchman at 0.387 and Pérez at 0.480. Hamilton was fifth and Alonso was back in the top 10 with the seventh time, 1 second behind his friend from Ferrari.
In the final Q3, Sainz set the reference time (1m20s584) with Leclerc in his wake, at 186 thousandths, and Verstappen third at 275 thousandths. Anything could happen between these three pilots. Pérez (0.7), Russell (0.9) and Hamilton were a long way from qualifying for pole. Alonso did not set time, reserving for a single final lap.
In the second and decisive attempt at the best lap, Leclerc lowered Sainz’s best time in the second set by 3 tenths and pulverized the total by 268 thousandths with a superb lap that Verstappen could only approach at 145 thousandths.
Although the Madrid and the Dutch lose positions due to suspension (for changing the engine), and Russell and Norris will start in second and third position behind Leclerc. The various penalties allow Alonso to rise from 10th place (his only lap was annulled) to 7th at the start.
“You can go back, I don’t know how far. Starting last or penultimate in Monza against the tifosi makes me very angry, but it is what it is; we have done everything we could to be both cars up. I hope it will be a good day for Ferrari”, hoped Carlos Sainz.
1. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), 1m20s161
2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull), a 0s145
3. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), at 0s268
4. Sergio Pérez (Red Bull), at 1s045
5. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), a 1s363
6. George Russell (Mercedes), a 1s381
7. Lando Norris (McLaren), a 1s423
8. Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren), at 1s764
9. Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri), at 2s487
10. Fernando Alonso (Alpine), s.t.
11. Esteban Ocon (Alpine), 1m22s130
12. Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo), 1m22s235
13. Nyck de Vries (Williams), 1m22s471
14. Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo), 1m22s577
15. Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri), s.t.
16. Nicolas Latifi (Williams), 1m22s587
17. Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin), 1m22s636
18. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), 1m22s748
19. Kevin Magnussen (Haas), 1m22s908
20. Mick Schumacher (Haas), 1m23s005
First row
1. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
2. George Russell (Mercedes)
second row
3. Lando Norris (McLaren)
4. Max Verstappen (McLaren)
Third row
5. Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren)
6. Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri)
fourth row
7. Fernando Alonso (Alpine)
8. Nyck de Vries (Williams)
fifth row
9. Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
10. Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo)
sixth row
11. Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
12. Nicholas Latifi (Williams)
seventh row
13. Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin)
14. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
eighth row
15. Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo)
16. Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
ninth row
17. Mick Schumacher (Haas)
18. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
tenth row
19. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
20. Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri)