Qualifying for the 2022 Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix was officially under way at the Monza circuit, with Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin the first car out on track, as the Tifosi were out in full force, waiting for Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz to hit the track for their first runs.
In the meanwhile, we got confirmation that Carlos Sainz was given a reprimand by the stewards for going too slowly through Turn 1 during final practice. The Maranello team was also given a warning for failing to warn the Spanish driver that Valtteri Bottas was quickly approaching behind him. The incident saw the Finn forced to take evasive action and go off track at the first corner.
Scuderia Ferrari made a strong start to qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix as Charles Leclerc went fastest ahead of team-mate Carlos Sainz, who gave him a tow around the circuit. George Russell, aided by a tow from Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton, was third, with Verstappen fourth ahead of Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez. It was a nice start from Nyck De Vries in his first ever F1 Qualifying and he put himself 10th on the timesheet at that stage and was +1.601s slower than current leader Charles Leclerc. In his second run he went ahead of his teammate Nicholas Latifi and was up to 8th.
Max Verstappen then retook the top spot on the timesheet with a 1:20.922: that put him three tenths clear of Charles, while Mercedes were not taking anything for granted, and sent both George Russell and Lewis Hamilton back out on track for another Q1 run: Hamilton was currently 10th, about 0.7s clear of the drop zone and Russell about half a second quicker than his team-mate, doing enough to make it to Q2. Nyck de Vries advanced despite losing his final flying lap for a track limits breach. His previous effort was just quick enough to edge team-mate Nicholas Latifi by 0.020s: Nicholas Latifi, Sebastian Vettel, Lance Stroll, Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher were out in Q1
After a bit of standoff to start Q2, the action was in full flow: Carlos Sainz went almost 0.4s clear of Max Verstappen at the top, but the Red Bull driver was on used soft tyres. Sergio Perez was third ahead of Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, while Charles Leclerc made a mistake on his first flying lap, and had another go. With his first attempt of Q2, Nyck de Vries placed himself 11th on the timesheet with just Tsunoda yet to do a lap. Charles Leclerc went up to second, but only after a nervous moment midway through his lap as the Ferrari got out of a shape. That means it was a Ferrari one-two, with Carlos Sainz leading the way at that stage.
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It had appeared in practice that Alpine and McLaren would be able to give Mercedes a good contest in qualifying, butit hasn’t looked that way. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were comfortably fifth and sixth at the moment, while Lando Norris was only a place clear of the drop zone in 10th. With 18th the highest position he can start, Yuki Tsunoda decided to not set a time in Q2 and will start tomorrow’s race at the back of the grid. It was a good lap from Daniel Ricciardo, who went through in eighth, marginally behind McLaren team-mate Lando Norris. Esteban Ocon, Valtteri Bottas, Nyck De Vries and Zhou Guanyu and Yuki Tsunoda were out in Q2. Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc held on to that Ferrari one-two at the top of the timesheet in Q2.
The final part of qualifying was officially under way and we were expecting to see Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz, who are both starting from the rear of the grid, to offer up tows for their team-mates. Interestingly, Ferrari opted not to give Charles Leclerc a tow from Carlos Sainz. It was the Spaniard who was behind his team-mate on track in the first run and he took advantage of that tow from Charles and went top of the timesheet, almost two tenths quicker than his team-mate.
Max Verstappen was a tenth further back in third, with Sergio Perez a further half-second back in fourth.
Charles Leclerc therefore took pole position for the Italian Grand Prix and he didn’t need any help from those grid penalties! To the delight of the Tifosi, the Monegasque does a 1:20.161 to beat Max Verstappen by more than a tenth.
Based on just times, here is the top 10 from that session:
1) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
2) Max Verstappen, Red Bull
3) Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
4) Sergio Perez, Red Bull
5) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
6) George Russell, Mercedes
7) Lando Norris, McLaren
8) Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren
9) Pierre Gasly, Alpha Tauri
10) Fernando Alonso, Alpine
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