Italian Grand Prix – Qualifying: Pole position and fastest time for Leclerc

Q1 = “Question 1”

First qualifications for De Vries who replaces Albon behind the wheel of Williams. And it’s a success for the young driver who qualifies at the last minute in Q2. He finishes ahead of his weekend teammate Latifi and makes a very good impression behind the wheel of the Williams.

It is finally Verstappen who achieves the best time in the qualifying session. The Ferraris set the pace by taking the first two positions right from the start. They immediately returned to the pit lane and let the Red Bull driver overtake them.

The McLarens ensured the essentials by qualifying both drivers for Q2 despite difficulties for Ricciardo. The Australian driver qualified on his last lap, eliminating Latifi.

Same goes for AlphaTauri and Alpine, who both qualified their two drivers. The Alpine drivers both finished in the top 10, while the AlphaTauri drivers ended up between 10th and 15th place.

Eliminated from Q1: Nicholas Latifi (16th) / Sebastian Vettel (17th) / Lance Stroll (18th) / Kevin Magnussen (19th) / Mick Schumacher (20th)

Q2 typically refers to the second quarter of a fiscal year, but without additional context, it is difficult to provide a more specific translation.

The duel between McLaren and Alpine for 4th place in the constructors’ standings continues. It is McLaren who makes the best impression by qualifying both drivers in Q3. Alpine loses Ocon, who finishes in 11th position, just a few milliseconds behind Gasly. A disappointing performance that will start in the back positions with a 5-place penalty.

Sainz sets the fastest time ahead of his teammate Leclerc and the Red Bulls. He will have to continue battling with Hamilton during Q3 to find out who will be ahead of the other at the back of the grid.

Qualifying ends here for De Vries, who made a good impression. Locking of the rear wheels slowed him down and caused him to lose the good rhythm he had on his last lap. He had a few hundredths of a second advantage over his previous time and could have claimed a spot in Q3.

Eliminated from Q2: Esteban Ocon (11th) / Valtteri Bottas (12th) / Nyck de Vries (13th) / Guanyu Zhou (14th) / Yuki Tsunoda (15th)

Q3 stands for “Quarter 3”.

Sainz starts the 3rd qualifying lap very well, setting the fastest time on the first attempt. He is ahead of Leclerc as well as the two Red Bulls. However, considering his starting position on the grid, a very strange decision is made. One could have expected him to provide a slipstream for Leclerc to secure his pole position, but that was not the case.

It was during a final extremely close race between Ferrari and Red Bull that everything was decided. Leclerc started ahead of Verstappen for this last lap. He delivered a superb performance and overtook Sainz in the timing, waiting for Verstappen’s arrival. The Red Bull driver thought he would arrive with a better time but found himself trailing the Monegasque by only 2 hundredths of a second.

Noted the good performance of the McLarens, which secured the 7th and 8th places ahead of Gasly and Alonso. The Alpine driver had set a good time but was disqualified for exceeding track limits. The battle between McLaren and Alpine is currently favoring the orange team.