Ciao, MiniFans! Monza has welcomed us with plenty of news, including seat changes and how the seats puzzle is settling for next year, but we can’t let it distract us from what the temple of speed offers us: brilliant racing in one of those tracks without whom F1 cannot be truly understood.
Q1 started as usual, with some of those who’d be fighting to get through as the first ones out, but they were immediately joined by the locals. Both Ferrari drivers did their out lap under the initial roar of the tifosi, excited to see whether the new parts will translate into a good result for them. Things seemed to go well at the start, as Leclerc topped the sheets with the fastest time of the weekend. However, their joy wouldn’t last for long, as he would be soon pushed down by Norris, even if he was the only one who managed to beat the Monegasque in their first timed laps. The other Ferrari, having made a mistake, laid in last until the mechanics made sure that the floor was alright after having fully gone over a kerb and he joined the top dogs right behind Leclerc.
Both of the Mercedes, despite having locked the imaginary front row of FP3, seemed to be struggling with grip due to the higher temperatures, as well as very hot seats that were reported over the radio. The second stints were marked by Colapinto (Sargeant’s substitute until the end of the season) going wide. His small trip through the gravel rose such a high and dense dust cloud that visibility was impaired, which added to the bits of gravel pushed into the track meant that not many times could be improved. Added to this, there was also another yellow flag caused by Magnussen going wide, making it so that the order remained pretty much the same as it had been before the two incidents. The eliminated drivers in Q1 were Tsunoda (P16), Stroll (P17), Colapinto (P18), Bottas (P19) and Zhou (P20).
Q2 was slightly delayed as the marshals cleaned the track the old-fashioned way, armed with straw brooms to sweep the gravel back into its rightful place. Once the clock started ticking down, Ferrari led the pack out of the pitlane as most decided to go for used tyres, with McLaren and Verstappen being the great outliers. Ferrari didn’t seem to mind the age of their tyres, keeping up what had been shown in free practice and proving that they were still quite fast with used rubber, but their joy didn’t last long. Verstappen cut four tenths off of their time, whereas both McLarens went even quicker. Seeing this, a quick pitlane visit to get their fresh sets on as well, the local boys were ready to face their rivals.
After a first part of qualifying where the Mercedes drivers weren’t quite showing what had been seen in the morning, Hamilton managed to match his best performance and pushed everyone off first, presenting his candidacy to pole. Ferrari wasn’t having the same results as Mercedes, but they had done enough to remain in their boxes for the rest of the session. However, Leclerc was still sent out just in case, despite his four tenths gap to eight place and not that many candidates to get them out. In the end, only Norris and Sainz remained in, but not everyone pushed, mostly having gone out to check conditions. The eliminated drivers in Q2 were Alonso (P11), Ricciardo (P12), Magnussen (P13), Gasly (P14) and Ocon (P15).
There was no need to wait as the time started to go by for Q3. Only those with just one set of fresh softs went out with a used set, the rest of the grid choosing to do both stints with a new set. Out of the McLarens, Norris edged Piastri out by a few thousandths, managing to put three exact tenths between himself and the Ferraris. At least until Mercedes closed their laps, slotting themselves in between and leaving a team-coded grid for the first four rows before the drivers headed back to the pitlane for one last tyre change.
The second and last stint saw drivers trying to space themselves enough not to give a tow to a rival. A cloud of dust rose as Pérez touched the gravel, distracting Verstappen just enough to only manage to overtake his teammate on the timing tower, finishing in an unusual seventh place. The small position shuffles almost returned the drivers to their original positions from after the first stint, with the big difference of Hamilton not managing to improve his time and getting stuck behind both Ferrari drivers as his teammate was in front of them. The McLarens were the only ones with a chance at pole by the end, and Norris managed to score what sounded like a very unexpected first place after a lap that he didn’t deem to be the best he could do, apologising to his team before being informed that he had, indeed, manage to score first place.
Monza gifted us a qualifying session where it wasn’t quite set in stone who’d be able to snag pole position, nor who’d surround them. The lap times were tight and an assortment of teams occupied the top spots throughout the full qualifying. In the end, it was Norris who managed to park his car in the most desired spot of the grid, hyping up the championship battle yet again as Verstappen could only be seventh even after giving his all.
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