By Millie Battersby
Pierre Gasly impressed in Monza as he took his maiden pole position, following on from his win at the same circuit in 2020, lighting up the timing sheets with an impressive 1:27.786.
Following behind Gasly very close were the two Mercedes with George Russell leading the way for most of qualifying, with help from his teammate who finished P7, but will start tomorrow’s race from the back of the grid. The silver arrows are continuing their impressive run of form, hoping to run away with more constructor points tomorrow.
The Ferraris had a terrible day at home, with neither driver getting into the front rows for tomorrow’s race, claiming P4 and P5, hoping they will both get a clean start for tomorrow’s race, keeping it clean heading into the first corner. The pair were struggling for much of Q2 and Q3 with Hamilton almost being eliminated in Q2, being saved by just 1 thousandth of a second. With a huge lack of straight-line speed compared to the cars ahead of them, it will be an interesting fight tomorrow in front of the Tfosi.
McLaren looked to be consistent throughout the 3 sessions, remaining near the top for a majority of qualifying. Oscar Piastri put his car in P3, but he is currently under investigation for impeding Lawson in
Q2, and Norris put his car in P9 after struggling with his brakes throughout the sessions, and with a car capable of being at the front of the field, what can the team bring to the race tomorrow.
Verstappen and his Redbull were still struggling with downforce and set up towards the back of the car, placing an early banker lap in Q1 and remaining out of his car for the rest of the session. With the Dutch driver claiming P6 at the end of qualifying with teammate Lawson ending up in P14 after he lost out to traffic on his final flying lap of Q2 after Max was giving him the tow, and with Lawson taking penalties this weekend, the Kiwi could struggle to pick up points.
Alpine had a very successful afternoon as French driver Pierre Gasly got his maiden pole position, the team’s first since 2009, giving the Endstone team a huge advantage ahead of tomorrow’s race. His teammate Franco Colapinto impressed once again, pulling out a P10, putting the Alpine cars in a good
position to score some good points. Their upgraded merges power package showing what the team can do in a low drag setup.
Williams, Cadillac and Aston Martin all had a rough day with Carlos Sainz being the only driver out of the 6 to make it into Q2 after using his teammate as a slipstream. Alex Albon will start from the back of the grid, with Valterri Bottas, Sergio Perez, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll all starting ahead of the Thai
driver. The Aston Martins really need to find some kind of pace as this was Lance Strolls 100th Q1 knockout, a stat he probably won’t want repeating.
Oliver Bearman continues to show the one lap pace of his Haas machine, getting into Q2 and securing P12 for tomorrow’s race, with his teammate Esteban Ocon not doing so well, claiming a P16 struggling with balance and traffic.
Audi had a semi successful day with Gabriel Bortoleto almost knocking 7-time world champion Lewis Hamilton out of Q2 securing a P11 for himself and teammate Nico Hulkenberg coming in P13.And finally Racing Bulls who are still struggling to get Yuki Tsunoda pace, with the Japanese driver coming in P17 in his second weekend back in Formula 1, teammate Arvid Lindblad continues to impress in his rookie season coming in P10 and getting his car into Q3.
With the stage set for a fantastic and competitive game of strategy tomorrow, will it be Alpine who come away with the win?
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