Charles Leclerc didn’t need grid penalties as he claimed pole position outright for the Italian Grand Prix on Saturday.
Ferrari actually benefitted from running behind Red Bull on track as they used the slipstream to match the straight-line speed of the RB18.
And it was Leclerc who delighted the Tifosi at Monza to beat Max Verstappen and secure his eighth pole of the 2022 season.
Q1
Verstappen set the pace at the front, as the first driver to dip into the 1m20s all weekend.
In his first qualifying session, Nyck De Vries out-qualified Nicholas Latifi and reached Q2, while the Canadian missed out in 16th for Williams.
Nyck gets through to Q2! ?#WeAreWilliams #ItalianGP pic.twitter.com/yU9izuaObX
— Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) September 10, 2022
The two Aston Martins and two Haas’ brought up the field. Sebastian Vettel only managed 17th in his final qualifying at the circuit he claimed his first F1 pole in 2008.
Lance Stroll was 18th ahead of Kevin Magnussen, who led teammate Mick Schumacher despite having two faster laps deleted for track limits exiting the second Lesmo bend.
Latifi, Vettel and Stroll will benefit from the nine drivers taking grid penalties.
Q2
It was the two Ferraris leading the way in Q2 with Sainz getting a perfect tow to beat Verstappen’s Q1 benchmark.
Further down, a strong final lap from Daniel Ricciardo moved him into Q3 thanks to an assist from teammate Lando Norris.
Good work, boys.
Lando and Daniel progress through to Q3. ?#ItalianGP ??— McLaren (@McLarenF1) September 10, 2022
That pushed Esteban Ocon into the knockout zone in 11th, denying Alpine the chance to use the slipstream tactic in the fight for ‘best of the rest’.
The two Alfa Romeos sat 12th and 14th, with Valtteri Bottas reaching Q2 for the first time since Hungary.
Between them was De Vries in 13th, a very solid result for Williams, while Yuki Tsunoda didn’t run in 15th due to all of his grid penalties.
Q3
Simply needing a clean Q3 to secure pole for Leclerc, Ferrari instead wanted to beat Red Bull on track and were ahead after the first runs as Sainz led Leclerc by almost two tenths.
Verstappen sat a further tenth back in third as Russell put himself provisionally second after all the penalties had been applied in fifth fastest.
On the second flying lap, the Prancing Horse’s galloped again as Sainz improved but Leclerc went faster posting a 1m20.161s to secure his second pole at Monza.
????????????! ? Semplicemente incredibile, @Charles_Leclerc ?#essereFerrari ? #ItalianGP pic.twitter.com/owA7WyTQik
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) September 10, 2022
Verstappen moved up to second, a tenth-and-a-half behind the Monegasque much to the delight of the Tifosi.
Sainz was fourth ahead of Sergio Perez and the two Mercedes’ of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell completed the top six.
Russell though will start on the front row alongside Leclerc due to the various grid penalties for those ahead.
The two McLarens enjoyed a better-than-expected session in seventh and eighth but will move up several positions.
Likewise, Pierre Gasly in ninth and Fernando Alonso, who rounded out the top 10 in a disappointing result from Alpine.
Results from qualifying can be seen below:
QUALIFYING CLASSIFICATION @Charles_Leclerc takes his eighth pole of the season! #ItalianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/xhIYae12fg
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 10, 2022