#F1 #ItalianGP Qualifying: @LandoNorris scores fifth-career pole.
Lando Norris, #4, McLaren Formula 1 Team-Mercedes, MCL38, getting out of his car after scoring his fifth-career pole in Qualifying, Formula 1 Pirelli Gran Premio D'Italia 2024, Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza, Italy. Image credit to Clive Rose/Getty Images. Norris Italian GP Pole, 2024 Italian GP Qualifying, Italian GP Qualifying Results, F1 Italian GP Qualifying, 2024 F1 Italian GP Qualifying Results.
Norris Italian GP Pole – Lando Norris set Monza alight to take his fifth-career pole position in qualifying at the Italian GP in a McLaren front row-lockout ahead of team-mate Oscar Piastri whilst Mercedes’ George Russell completed the top three after a great improvement on his final hot-lap. Championship leader Max Verstappen was down in seventh.
In Q3, Norris held provisional pole in the initial flyers after taking two personal bests in sectors one and two with a purple final sector to set a 1:19.401 and was 0.035 seconds faster than team-mate Piastri who held the quickest sector two effort as Russell scored all three personal bests and ended up 0.168 adrift of his fellow British-compatriot in third.
In the final flying laps, Norris was unable to improve in sectors one and three but scored a purple middle sector to just improve slightly to clinch pole position with a 1:19.327 and his team-mate Piastri could not better his initial hot-lap and ended up 0.109 off his team-mate whilst Mercedes’ Russell jumped to third with two personal bests in sectors one and three and ended up 0.113 off the McLaren driver.
Both the Ferrari’s will start on the second and third rows respectively at their home Grand Prix as Charles Leclerc outqualified team-mate Carlos Sainz as the lead SF-24 entry with three personal best efforts on his final flyer to go fourth.
Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton ended up sixth and ahead of 2021 title rival Max Verstappen who could only reach seventh overall for Red Bull.
The other RB20 entry of Sergio Perez was eighth as Williams’ Alexander Albon and MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top ten.
In the middle segment, which was topped by Hamilton, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso made a late final improvement but was not enough, missing out on a Q3 appearance by a slim 0.010 seconds and qualifying 11th.
RB’s Daniel Ricciardo followed in 12th and ahead of Haas’s Kevin Magnussen who took 13th and the Alpine pairing Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon who were the slowest of the Q2 runners in 14th and 15th respectively.
In the opening qualifying stage, which was topped by Norris, RB’s Yuki Tsunoda was the quickest of the Q1 eliminatees in 16th and in-front of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll who took 17th.
Williams’ Franco Colapinto was unable to improve on his final flyer after the Argentine driver made an error running wide into the gravel trap on the exit of Lesmo two, but managed to correct his FW46 and had no choice but to abandon his lap, wounding up 18th as Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu brought up the rear.
You can see the full Formula 1 Pirelli Gran Premio D’Italia 2024 Qualifying Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2024/races/1244/italy/qualifying
2024 Italian GP Qualifying – The Top Three
2024 Italian GP Pole Position – Lando Norris, #4, McLaren Formula 1 Team-Mercedes, MCL38 – 1:19.327:
“Another pole which is amazing. To have two cars first and second when the field is as tight as it has been all weekend is a surprise, but a nice one. My lap, it hurts me to say, wasn’t a great lap. So a bit surprised at the end but very happy.”
2nd Place – Oscar Piastri, #81, McLaren Formula 1 Team-Mercedes, MCL38 – +0.109s:
“First lap in Q3 was good, the second one was not quite enough. Amazing effort from the team to pull off [lock out]. Starting a bit further up than last week is a positive to myself, it’s a long run to Turn 1 so starting second isn’t a bad thing.”
3rd Place – George Russell, #63, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team, F1 W15 – +0.113s:
“Great ending up P3, better than I expected as it was a really tough session in Q1 and Q2 so super happy with third. I’m pretty comfortable for tomorrow, I’ll eat some pizzas to fuel me up and will look for a good result.”
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#F1 #ItalianGP FP2: @LewisHamilton pips @LandoNorris by 0.003s.
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