MONZA: Qualifying Report

Pierre Gasly claims his first ever pole position in Italy

Q1:

It was very hot once again in Monza as the air temperature reached 34C as Q1 began. It was an unfortunate start to qualifying for Yuki Tsundoa, who is standing in at Racing Bulls while Liam Lawson covers for an injured Isack Hadjar, as his RB had a fuel leak at the start of the session. This delayed his exit onto the track.

There were some early worries for Lando Norris as he came on the radio complaining about the brakes and also claimed that he had no power. He did manage to set a lap good enough to get him through into Q2 despite his struggles.

Gasly and Colapinto were flying in the first session as Gasly picked up a great tow and went fastest while Colapinto put his Alpine into P3 for the time being.

Bearman was heard over the radio asking his engineer to check the left side of the floor. He may have hit the curb or gravel too hard at some point on his lap that we did not see but he sounded concerned.

Alonso not out of his Aston Martin before the session timer had ended. It is not clear if there was a car problem or if he thought they would not improve. Overall Alonso qualified 21^st with his teammate Lance Stroll suffering his 100^th Q1 elimination in p22.

Drivers eliminated in Q1 were: Tsunoda, Albon, Bottas, Perez, Alonso and Stroll.

Lance Stroll becomes the first F1 driver to have 100 Q1 eliminations

Q2:

Norris was once again worried and asking about his brakes as he sat and waited to go out on track in Q2. He felt as though he would have an incident into turn 1 with how unstable his brakes were. This is a valid concern as turn 1 is the heaviest braking zone on the track.

Lawson and Verstappen were out on track first and Lawson gave Max a perfect tow to get him into Q3. Verstappen still was not impressed and was complaining about the rear axel in slower corners and on the exits.

Gasly was once again very fast but his time got beat by Norris and then shortly after, Piastri too.

The Ferrari’s had problems through Q2. Hamilton was 6 tenths of Piastri in first and sat in P11, meaning he had to put on some fresh tires to get himself through to Q3. Leclerc was also under pressure and the Ferrari duo managed to get to Q3 by the skin of their teeth in 9^th and 10^th.

Lawson was eliminated in Q2. He was set up to have the tow returned by Maz Verstappen but when he went through turn 1 and 2 he got blocked by a very slow Oscar Piastri. Lawson’s lap time did not improve even though he tried to keep going even with the hold up. Piastri has been noted for impeding and he will be under investigation after the session for impeding. If the stewards think he is guilty, he may receive a grid penalty.

Nonetheless, Antonelli, Piastri and Norris were the fastest in Q2 as Bortoleto, Bearman, Hulkenberg, Lawson, Sainz and Ocon were eliminated.

Piastri was parked on the Apex of turn 1 as Lawson started a flying lap. He could pick up a grid penalty.

Q3:

On the final runs Piastri locked up into turn 1 which affected Norris behind him as he got no tow from his teammate ahead. Piastri had to bail out of his lap as he cut the chicane but still qualified 3^rd with his banker lap.

The real shock of qualifying was Pierre Gasly claiming pole. Most people though pole was Russell’s due to Mercedes using Kimi Antonelli to get him a massive tow as qualifying results did not matter to Kimi as he is starting from the back of the grid anyway. Gasly had other ideas as he put in a shockingly good lap around Monza to claim his first career pole position. Gasly claimed his first race win in Monza back in 2020 so this track is proving to be very special for the Frenchman. This is even more special after the Court of Appeal removed his podium finish in Monaco following Red Bull and McLaren’s appeals.

The top ten in qualifying are:

1. Gasly
2. Russell
3. Piastri
4. Leclerc
5. Hamilton
6. Verstappen
7. Antonelli (30 Place Penalty though)
8. Colapinto
9. Norris
10. Lindblad