LECLERC CLAIMS POLE POSITION FOR FERRARI AT THE ITALIAN GRAND PRIX

While Ferrari and Red Bull fought it out for the top four qualifying positions, the final adjusted starting grid doesn’t look very similar. With more component penalties taken by some of the fastest driver, several drivers have moved forward to claim top ten starting grid places.

AUTO ACTION’S Reese Mautone looks at what went on in qualifying and where it all the drivers landed after the penalties had been taken.

Charles Leclerc claimed pole position in front of Ferrari’s adoring home crowd in Monza, beating Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by 0.145 seconds. But the Dutch driver will start out of position 7 for the race following taking grid penalties for component changes.

Top three Qualifiers Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, pole man Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, and Carlos Sainz, Ferrari during the Italian GP at Monza on Saturday September 10, 2022 in Monza, Italy.

Third was Carlos Sainz in his Ferrari + 0.268, who now starts out of 18^th, was followed by Sergio Perez more than 1.045 behind the Ferrari on pole, with Mercedes’s Lewis Hamilton in forth. Both drivers now starting near the rear of the grid in 18^th and 19^th following more component penalties.

In an amazing effort, last minute stand in driver Nyck De Vries who got the call up on Saturday morning to take Alex Albon’s Williams seat, will start out of position eight, after making it to Q2 and qualifying 13th.

Nyck de Vries, Williams FW44 during the Italian GP at Autodromo Nazionale Monza

However, plenty of drivers will benefit from the grid penalties. Mercedes F1 driver George Russell, who qualified in sixth, takes a big move forward and now starts alongside Leclerc on the front row for Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix.

McLaren own the second row of the grid with Lando Norris third, moving forward from his original qualifying position of seventh, while Daniel Ricciardo who qualified in eighth, will now start from forth after benefiting from all the applied penalties.

How did we get to this.

Qualifying 1 saw the elimination of Nicholas Latifi, Sebastian Vettel, Lance Stroll, Kevin Magnussen, and Mick Schumacher, while Max Verstappen topped the opening session’s times with a 1:20.922.

Alex Albon’s replacement for this weekend, Nyck De Vries put in an impressive performance, out-qualifying Nicholas Latfifi by 0.020 seconds and making it into Q2 in his first F1 qualifying session despite his last lap time deletion for exceeding track limits.

Williams announced shortly before FP3 that Albon would not partake in the remainder of the Italian Grand Prix weekend, ruling out the Thai driver who is suffering from appendicitis and requiring surgery.

Mick Schumacher who had limited running across the three practice sessions failed to put a complete lap together, qualifying in last, while his teammate fell victim to Turn 7’s track limits on multiple occasions, resulting in Magnussen qualifying in P19. Both Haas drivers are subject to grid penalties.

Much to the dismay of the Tifosi, Vettel failed to break into Q2 at a track where the German has had much success. Vettel qualified in P16, a mere 0.069 seconds away from the Q2 cut-off, with his teammate trailing behind in P17.

The final runs in Q2 began with Monza’s characteristic tussle for position.

Esteban Ocon, Valtteri Bottas, Nyck De Vries, Zhou Guanyu, and Yuki Tsunoda were the drivers eliminated as Sainz and Leclerc secured the top two spots ahead of both Red Bulls in Q2.

Despite complaining of the slow pace of others, Zhou and his teammate’s fastest lap times left the Alfa Romeo drivers in P12 and P14.

Nyck De Vries accidentally knocked a brake-related switch altering his brake balance on what looked to be a solid lap, putting an end to the Dutchman’s first F1 qualifying session.

In Q3, the slipstream effect proved rewarding, and ultimately essential to maximise the top 10 drivers’ final attempts at securing pole position.

The majority of drivers executed this strategy having practiced the manoeuvre in earlier sessions throughout the weekend.

Charles Leclerc, utilising the tow from Daniel Ricciardo, claimed pole position in front of Ferrari’s adoring home crowd with a time of 1:20.161.

For all drivers bar Leclerc, the order they qualified in during the session will not stand as a result of the grid penalties for Hamilton, Verstappen, Perez, Sainz, Bottas, Tsunoda, Magnussen, Schumacher and Ocon all now confirmed.

TONIGHTS STARTING GRID AND WHERE THE DRIVERS ORIGINALY QUALIFIED

1   (1)    Charles Leclerc                FERRARI

2   (6)    George Russell                MERCEDES

3   (7)    Lando Norris                    MCLAREN MERCEDES

4   (8)    Daniel Ricciardo               MCLAREN MERCEDES

5   (9)    Pierre Gasly                     ALPHATAURI RBPT

6   (10)  Fernando Alonso             ALPINE RENAULT

7   (2)    Max Verstappen              RED BULL RACING

8   (13)  Nyck De Vries                  WILLIAMS MERCEDES

9   (14)  Zhou Guanyu                   ALFA ROMEO FERRARI

10 (16)  Nicholas Latifi                  WILLIAMS MERCEDES

11 (17)  Sebastian Vettel               ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES

12 (18)  Lance Stroll                      ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES

13 (3)    Sergio Perez                    RED BULL RACING

14 (11)  Esteban Ocon                   ALPINE RENAULT

15 (12)  Valtteri Bottas                   ALFA ROMEO FERRARI

16 (19)  Kevin Magnussen             HAAS FERRARI

17 (20)  Mick Schumacher             HAAS FERRARI

18 (3)    Carlos Sainz                     FERRARI

19 (5)    Lewis Hamilton                 MERCEDES

20 (15)  Yuki Tsunoda                    ALPHATAURI