By Mark Gero
Max Verstappen throughout the entire season so far, would probably be considered the only challenge to both McLaren’s this season, and on Saturday in qualifying for Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix at the Monza Autodromo, the Dutchman proved his worth as the defending world champion, took pole by setting a final session time of 1:18:792 ahead of both Lando Norris and series leader Oscar Piastri.
Verstappen, who took the second-best session, grabbed the final best time on his very last flying lap, just as Norris, who struggled late, but finally found his rhythm, could not get the top spot, despite the Briton will start the race on the front row.
“I try but I think around here with the low downforce it’s always very difficult to nail the lap, under braking it’s very easy to make mistakes.” Said Verstappen.
Q3 felt good and I’m happy with the laps and to be on pole here for us is also fantastic. The car has been working better the whole weekend and to be able to fight for pole, I’m very happy with that.
It was tight, we were still lacking a tiny amount, and we made some final changes which I think allowed me to push a bit more and that’s exactly what you need in qualifying. For us, it’s a great moment.
Historically this season the race has always been a little bit more complicated for us, but we are going to give it everything we have.”
Norris, who has been quick all weekend, was not surprised by Verstappen’s performance.
“Max has been quick all weekend and it’s never a surprise with Max.,” said Norris. “It was quite a session from me, up and down and too many mistakes here and there. But to put it together on the last lap, I was pretty happy with P2.
I feel like I didn’t do the best of jobs but to get P2 I’m still happy so let’s say there were good and bad things. P2 is not a bad position to be off the line, and I want to be ahead of everyone and that includes my championship contenders and Oscar. I’m still in a good position for tomorrow and I’m excited for the race.”
Piastri, who still leads the championship by 34 points over Norris, was satisfied with his performance but in his view, could have improved.
“Nothing major [went wrong], Turn One was a little bit average but the rest of the lap felt pretty tidy.” He said.
I felt like I executed a pretty good session and built a little bit up to it at the start and found my feet.
I think it’s just been incredibly tight this weekend, Red Bull and Max Verstappen looked quick, to be honest a lot of teams looked quick.
It’s not been quite as comfortable for us so the result is not a big surprise, but I still would have liked to be a little bit further up.”
The next four finishers were two by two as both Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton took fourth and fifth, while the Mercedes duo of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli at his home race, finished sixth and seventh. Sauber’s Gabriel Borteleto ended up in eighth, his fourth of six qualifying sessions in the final period.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso took ninth, with the second Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda finishing tenth.
Racing Bulls Isack Hadjar, the hero of finishing third at the last race, was out in the opening session, while both Williams of Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz, both who were up near the top during all three practices, were both knocked out in the second session.
Earlier in the day, Ferrari had put themselves into contention. They showed strong race pace.
After having success in the previous day’s free practice Friday, McLaren’s Lando Norris took Saturday morning’s third practice for the next day’s Italian Grand Prix at the Monza Autodromo.
The Briton’s time of 1:19:331 gives him the chance of improving even more for the later qualifying event as Norris trails his teammate and rival, Oscar Piastri, by 34 points in the driver’s championship with nine rounds remaining.
For the drivers themselves, it took ten minutes of tyre scrubbing before the first car rolled out of the garage.
Defending race winner Charles Leclerc delighted the home fans by giving them second best in the standings, which could challenge the McLaren’s, who have the advantage of this high speed and low downforce circuit.
Piastri was never far away from Norris, and took third, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in fourth, setting his best time on the soft compound tyres. George Russell in the Mercedes was fifth, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto a surprising sixth. Lewis Hamilton in the second Ferrari was a disappointing seventh, with Racing Bulls Isack Hadjar, who was the first to use the softs, finishing in eighth.
Recovering from a beached car on Friday, Mercedes Kimi Antonelli took ninth with the Willaims of Alex Albon in tenth.
Many of the drivers in this session ran wide on the circuit which included Hamilton, Borteleto, Norris and the Williams of Carlos Sainz and the Haas of Oliver Bearman. All of them complained about a tailwind, which forced them to make this happen. This will make the qualifying session more interesting as the set up for this circuit might be challenging for the drivers involved.
WHEEL2WHEEL REPORTS 