#ItalianGP Qualifying: @ValtteriBottas pips @LewisHamilton to Sprint pole. #F1

Valtteri Bottas has pipped Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton to claim pole position for tomorrow’s 100km qualifying sprint race to decide the grid for Sunday’s Italian GP.

Hamilton’s championship rival Max Verstappen qualified in third place for the qualifying sprint, but the Red Bull driver wound up 0.411 seconds adrift of Bottas’ benchmark, with the Finn running a new engine for Friday Qualifying.

Hamilton pushed to provisional pole on the initial flyers setting a 1:19.949 with Verstappen 0.017 seconds slower.

But although Hamilton followed team-mate Bottas around for the final hot-laps, the Silver Arrows F1 W12 EQ Performance entries did not give each other a tow in the other sessions – the Finn gained throughout.

Bottas scored purple sectors in one and two of his flyer and flew to a 1:19.555, as Hamilton improved on his effort, but ended up 0.096 off his team-mate.

After taking on a fourth engine, Bottas will start the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday from the back of the grid, with the sanction applying after Saturday’s 100km Qualifying Sprint Race.

Verstappen had been well-off the Mercedes pace earlier in qualifying, but his speed on his initial Q3 flying lap gave some hope of a challenge.

But despite running behind Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez, Verstappen was unable to set a personal best on his final effort in any of the sectors.

McLaren’s Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo will start the qualifying sprint in fourth and fifth respectively and ahead of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly who takes sixth.

Scuderia Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc will occupy the fourth row of the grid taking seventh and eighth with the latter reporting an intermittent engine braking issue throughout the Q1 and Q2 segments.

The second Red Bull of Perez ninth and Alfa Romeo Racing’s starting the 100km Qualifying Sprint in tenth place.

In the second qualifying stage, Hamilton was quickest, with the session ending with a flurry of quick efforts, which followed after a pit scramble to get onto the circuit ahead of the final flyers.

The Aston Martin AMR21 entries were released into the path of the Mercedes duo and Verstappen, with Sebastian Vettel ending up very near Hamilton’s right side wheels as he went around the Aston Martin mechanic that had to hold Lance Stroll before it was clear.

Alpine’s Esteban Ocon also emerged as the pack of cars headed down the pit-lane, with Leclerc also getting out ahead, as the entire investigation is currently investigated by the race officials.

All five Q2 eliminatees all posted personal best efforts on their last hot-laps, with all cars backing off at the Curva Alboreto (Parabolica), but all drivers made it through to complete their final flyer.

Aston Martin duo Vettel and Stroll will start the qualifying sprint race in 11th and 12th respectively, followed by Alpine’s Fernando Alonso and Ocon 13th and 14th on the grid with Williams Racing’s George Russell the slowest of the Q2 runners in 15th.

In Q1, traffic was a major problem, with Verstappen and Gasly impeded coming across cars at the Variante Della Roggia Chicane and Ascari Chicane’s respectively halfway through the first qualifying stage, the former arriving with the Alpine duo and Stroll travelling slowly in-front of him, whilst the latter had to back out of his flying lap after coming across a slow Ferrari of Leclerc going through the first apex of Ascari.

A huge pack of cars toured slowly along the back straight in the closing seconds before the chequered flag was waved, but all managed to squeeze in a final flyer.

Williams’ Russell escaped a first stage elimination after AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda’s lap-time was invalidated after running wide at the Curva Alboreto (Parabolica). The Japanese driver will start 17th in the qualifying sprint.

The other Williams FW43B entry of Nicholas Latifi was promoted to 16th on the sprint grid because of Tsunoda’s lap deletion.

Haas F1 Team pairing Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin will start the sprint in 18th and the rear respectively with Alfa Romeo Racing’s Robert Kubica sandwiched in-between taking 19th.

Mazepin is also facing a post-qualifying investigation for impeding Kubica at the first Lesmo corner ahead of the final flying laps, but the Russian will not face an investigation for an incident when he was called out of his Haas garage narrowly into the path of Ferrari’s Leclerc and Sainz during the early proceedings of Q1.

You can read the full Formula 1 Heineken Gran Premio D’Italia 2021 Qualifying Results Classification here at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1076/italy/qualifying.html

2021 Italian GP Qualifying – The Top Three

Pole for Qualifying Sprint – Valtteri Bottas, #77, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, F1 W12 EQ Performance, 1:19.555:

“That qualifying lap was nice, it feels so good when you get a nice lap, it was nice to get a tow finally. I feel good, relaxed and everything is sorted for the future. The car feels so good, focus on tomorrow’s Sprint race – try to take maximum points and see what we can do on Sunday.”

2nd Place – Lewis Hamilton, #44, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, F1 W12 EQ Performance, 0.096:

“Every point counts. Congratulations to Valtteri, mega lap. It was looking good from our side up to then but he just went quicker and I couldn’t match it. The Italian fans, it’s so good to see them here. The weather’s been great, and what an amazing circuit here.”

3rd Place – Max Verstappen, #33, Red Bull Racing-Honda, RB16B, 0.411:

“I think for us, at this track, it’s always going to be difficult. We recovered quite well throughout qualifying, I’m happy to be third. In the race we expect to be closer.”

 

#ItalianGP FP1: @LewisHamilton tops time-sheets ahead of @Max33Verstappen. #F1

#Formula1 @Heineken #ItalianGP 2021 Preview. #F1 #ItalianGrandPrix