Valtteri Bottas claimed the fastest qualifier position from teammate Lewis Hamilton in qualifying at the Italian Grand Prix.
During the session, it was announced the Finn will start from the back on Sunday due to an engine penalty. But he secured P1 on the grid for the 18-lap Sprint on Saturday with a brilliant final run in Q3.
Hamilton had to settle for P2 at Monza, with Max Verstappen not quite able to challenge Mercedes’ superiority around the ‘Temple of Speed’.
Q1
Qualifying began with traffic chaos in Q1, as drivers tried to position themselves for a slipstream while also staying out of the way of those on flying laps.
A poor first lap from Verstappen saw him need several more attempts before finally securing his place in Q2 as Mercedes enjoyed a comfortable one-two.
Charles Leclerc was also struggling with an engine braking issue in his Ferrari but would avoid a repeat of Sebastian Vettel’s Q1 exit at the Scuderia’s home race last year.
The final minutes saw a train of cars go for a final run and a dramatic end as Yuki Tsunoda appeared to have made his way through before his lap time was deleted for track limits through Parabolica.
Tsunoda had initially made it through to Q2 but the stewards deleted his lap time after he was seen exceeding track limits at Turn 11#ItalianGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/ou66cB9a01
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 10, 2021
That promoted George Russell back into the top 15, as the AlphaTauri dropped back to 17th.
Nicholas Latifi would just fail to make the cut in 16th in the other Williams, as Mick Schumacher out-qualified Robert Kubica into 18th.
The Pole, again replacing Kimi Raikkonen at Alfa Romeo this weekend, was 19th, and Nikita Mazepin 20th in the Haas.
Q2
Mercedes continued to dominate with Hamilton leading Bottas, as Lando Norris repeated his P3 from Q1 ahead of Verstappen.
The Dutchman’s teammate Sergio Perez just made it through into the top 10 at the expense of Sebastian Vettel in 11th.
Lance Stroll followed in 12th, with the two Alpines of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon 13th and 14th.
Despite his Q1 reprieve, Russell could do no better than P15.
Lewis’s view of that pit lane incident ?#ItalianGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/tRV4wZUJgG
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 10, 2021
Prior to the final runs, there was bedlam in the pit lane as Aston Martin released their cars as Hamilton and Verstappen were approaching.
The result was the engineer waving out Stroll of his garage almost being hit as cars scattered to avoid each other, and the stewards will now investigate.
Q3
The complexion at the front would change in the first runs of Q3, as Hamilton was again fastest but only 0.017s ahead of Verstappen, with Norris 0.065s behind in third.
Bottas though would up the ante on his final run setting a 1m19.555 to pip his teammate into P1 by just under a tenth of a second.
Verstappen would claim third but had the two McLarens of Norris and Daniel Ricciardo within half a tenth in fourth and fifth.
Great session, team! ?
We will line up with Lando in P4 and Daniel in P5 for tomorrow’s F1 Sprint Race.
Bring it on. ?#ItalianGP ?? [Q3] pic.twitter.com/XBALTYtDXa
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) September 10, 2021
Pierre Gasly took a strong sixth in the AlphaTauri, as both Ferrari’s made the top 10 in seventh and eighth for Carlos Sainz and Leclerc respectively.
Perez was ninth in the second Red Bull, as Antonio Giovinazzi made Q3 for the second straight race in P10 for Alfa Romeo.
Full results from qualifying can be seen below:
