Lando Norris will start from pole position for the second consecutive Sunday after beating team mate Oscar Piastri to the fastest time in Monza.
Despite admitting he was disappointed with his final run in Q3, Norris still improved on his own provisional pole time to secure the top spot on the grid.
George Russell will start third on the grid for Mercedes, while championship leader Max Verstappen could only manage seventh.
Q1
The conditions could hardly have been more ideal for Franco Colapinto’s first F1 qualifying session, with clear skies and temperatures at 33C. Charles Leclerc was informed by race engineer Bryan Bozzi that the wind intensity around the circuit was “very low” as he left the pit lane for the start of qualifying.
Leclerc and Ferrari team mate Carlos Sainz Jnr were the first of the big hitters to set out their stalls at the start of qualifying, with Leclerc immediately posting the quickest time of the weekend so far with a 1’20.074. A mistake through the second Lesmo rendered Sainz’s first attempt of the session a waste.
Max Verstappen was a tenth of a second slower than Leclerc with his first effort, while Lando Norris went quickest of all with his first lap, a tenth quicker than Leclerc. Oscar Piastri ruined his first lap when he locked up into the way into the Rettifilo chicane, but after abandoning his lap and pushing on the next, he went fourth with his first time of qualifying.
The two Mercedes could only manage fourth and fifth with their first attempts of Q1, with George Russell a tenth ahead of his team mate before complaining that he had been “sliding massively” on his lap. They were both demoted one place after Sainz posted his first representative time of the session.
With under five minutes remaining, debutant Colapinto was only two-thousandths of a second away from securing a place in Q2. However, his hopes of progressing ended when he ran wide and onto the gravel at the second Lesmo. That disrupted the lap of Kevin Magnussen, who was running immediately behind him, and had a scrappy end to his last push lap as a result, though he made it through along with his team mate.
Daniel Ricciardo was the last driver to claim a place in Q2, eliminating his team mate Yuki Tsunoda, who in turn had knocked Lance Stroll out moments earlier. Colapinto was 18th in his first qualifying session ahead of the two Saubers of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu.
The stewards announced that Piastri will be investigated after qualifying for an incident in the pits. Verstappen had to take evasive action when McLaren release Piastri into his path.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Q1 result
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Q2
Ferrari sent both their drivers out on well-used tyres at the start of Q2, with Leclerc once again getting the better lap between him and Sainz. But their times were comfortably beaten by the two McLarens of Norris and Piastri with their shiny new softs for their first runs.
Verstappen could not match the McLarens with his first time on new softs, but Hamilton leapt straight to the top to the timing screen with a 1’19.641 on fresh tyres, just under a tenth quicker than the McLarens. The two Ferraris returned to the track on new sets of their own, but while Sainz moved up to third, Leclerc could only manage seventh with his effort, complaining about his Ferrari “not turning at all”.
As the cars headed out for their final runs, Alexander Albon was sitting vulnerable in tenth place, while Fernando Alonso had to improve in 11th to reach Q3. Kevin Magnussen was also at risk of his qualifying session ending in 12th, as were the two Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon with Ricciardo slowest in 15th.
Ricciardo improved by more than four tenths on his last lap but could not reach the top ten and was out. Alonso also improved but missed the cut by just one-hundredth of a second, though on his way in he remarked the car wasn’t capable of more. Magnussen failed to find time with his last run and was also out in 13th, while Ocon could not beat his team mate despite improving on his last lap, meaning he was eliminated slowest behind Gasly.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Q2 result
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Q3
For the second time in qualifying, Verstappen swerved out of the way of a rival in the pit lane as he headed out for the first time in the final shoot-out. This time it was Sainz who he avoided, but the stewards deemed it to be not worthy of investigation.
The first efforts of the session saw McLaren in the strongest position of all, with Norris posting the provisional pole time of a 1’19.401, Piastri less than half a tenth behind. They were followed by the two Mercedes of Russell and Hamilton a tenth behind, with the two Ferraris of Sainz and Leclerc another tenth slower.
Despite having a fresh set of softs for his first run, Verstappen was slower with his first attempt than Perez on used tyres. He made his frustrations with the lack of grip offered by his new set of softs clear to his team over the radio.
Red Bull were the first to send their cars back out on track for the final run. Verstappen improved with his attempt to get ahead of his team mate, but was only good enough to move up to seventh.
Norris improved his own provisional pole time to a 1’19.327, but his team mate could not find any time. Despite admitting to his race engineer that he had put in a “shit” final lap, it ultimately proved to be good enough to secure his second consecutive pole position and fourth of the year as Piastri failed to improve with his last lap.
Russell held onto third as the two Ferraris improved on their last runs, but Leclerc was not pleased to take fourth on the grid ahead of his team mate Sainz. Hamilton was demoted from fourth to sixth in the final run and will start ahead of the two Red Bulls of Verstappen and Perez, whose final lap was ruined by an error at the second Lesmo. Albon equalled Williams’ best grid position of the season in ninth, with Hulkenberg rounding out the top ten.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Q3 result
Miss nothing from RaceFans
Get a daily email with all our latest stories – and nothing else. No marketing, no ads. Sign up here:
2024 Italian Grand Prix
Browse all 2024 Italian Grand Prix articles
