@CharlesLeclerc claims #ItalianGP pole, @GeorgeRussell63 second after penalties. #F1

Leclerc Italian GP pole – Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took his eighth pole position of the season as he fought off a penalised Max Verstappen in qualifying at the Italian GP as Carlos Sainz placed third.

 

 

Regardless of points leader Verstappen being hit with a five-grid placed penalty for a fresh internal combustion engine, Leclerc set the benchmark by 0.145 seconds to the delight of the “Tifosi” as his Ferrari team-mate Sainz, who will start at the back of the pack, was in third over the second Red Bull RB18 entry of Sergio Perez who was fourth.

 

In Q3, at the end of the initial flyers, Sainz was quickest on a 1:20.584 and was 0.186 seconds faster than team-mate Leclerc with points leader Verstappen third and a 0.275 seconds adrift of the Spaniard.

 

And then for the climactic end, it appeared as if Red Bull might offer a last-grasp attempt when Verstappen clocked the quickest effort through sector two yet again to pile on the pressure.

 

Even though Leclerc was a couple of hundredths slower than Sainz’s effort in sector one and never put together a purple sector, his combined run saw the Monegasque driver set the pole time of a 1:20.161.

 

This gave the Ferrari driver bragging rights over rival Verstappen’s 1:20.306 effort even before the RB18 takes sixth place on the grid as Sainz lapped with a 1:20.429.

 

With Perez demoted ten places – the Mexican having been a heap behind the top three and was 0.8 seconds down on his Red Bull team-mate – and Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton another driver who exceeded his parts limit, George Russell will start on the front row alongside Leclerc in his F1 W13 Silver Arrow.

 

This came despite the Mercedes F1 W13 again struggling to heat its tyres to optimal temperature.

 

McLaren’s Lando Norris, was seventh quickest over team-mate Daniel Ricciardo as AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly did enough to pip Alpine’s Fernando Alonso – as the two-time world champion abandoned his hot-lap.

 

In the second qualifying stage, which was topped by Sainz, Gasly did get himself into the top ten shoot-out with a 1:22.062 effort to find 0.07 seconds over Alpine’s Esteban Ocon who ended up 11^th after running slower sector one and three sectors compared to his previous tour.

 

Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas placed 12^th as the Finn suffered with brake struggles as Williams Racing’s Nyck De Vries (filling in for Alexander Albon) took 13^th.

 

De Vries was complaining in his debut Formula 1 qualifying session of struggling into the Variante Del Rettifilo Chicane, but his final flying lap was scruffy later in the tour.

 

On the approach to the Variante Della Roggia Chicane, the Dutch driver locked the rears of his FW44 racer to suffer a big snap, which he eventually caught, but knew his session was over.

 

The other Alfa C42 entry of Zhou Guanyu wound up 14^th as AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda who joins the back of the grid with Hamilton and Sainz was the slowest of the Q2 runners in 15^th.

 

In the first segment, which was topped by Verstappen, Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi was the quickest of the eliminatees in 16^th and in-front of Aston Martin pairing Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll who were 17^th and 18^th respectively.

 

Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher who will take up grid penalties for power-unit component changes brought up the rear.

 

2022 Italian GP – Grid Penalties

 

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing – 5 Places.

Esteban Ocon, Alpine F1 Team – 5 Places.

Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing – 10 Places.

Mick Schumacher, Haas F1 Team – 15 Places.

Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo F1 – 15 Places.

Kevin Magnussen, Haas F1 Team – 15 Places.

Carlos Sainz, Scuderia Ferrari – Back-Of-Grid.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 – Back-Of-Grid.

Yuki Tsunoda, Scuderia AlphaTauri – Back-Of-Grid.

 

You can see the full Formula 1 Pirelli Gran Premio D’Italia 2022 Qualifying Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1120/italy/qualifying.html

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2022 Italian GP Qualifying – The Top Three

 

 

2022 Italian GP Pole Position – Charles Leclerc, #16, Scuderia Ferrari, F1-75, 1:20.161:

“It’s amazing, it wasn’t an easy qualifying. I knew there was potential in the car, but I hadn’t put everything together. But happy with the [last] lap, I hope we can do just like in 2019 tomorrow. I took much more risks, I knew it was the last lap. I just went for it, and it worked out.”

 

2^nd Place – Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing-RBPT, RB18, +0.145:

“We chose to go for a little bit more downforce around here, over one lap maybe it’s not the best but for tomorrow it should be strong. I think it will be an interesting battle tomorrow.”

 

3^rd Place – Carlos Sainz, #55, Scuderia Ferrari, F1-75, +0.268:

“Honestly, a very good qualifying session and I was pushing flat out. In Q3 I didn’t have a tow, so it cost me those two, three tenths but I’m starting last so in the end it didn’t matter. I mean I’m not going to lie; it hurts to be starting from the back especially with how good the car is feeling. I will do my best; the pace is there but I wish I could be there at the front to try and do a 1-2 for the Tifosi.”

 

2022 Italian GP – The Starting Grid (Post-Penalties)

 

1. Charles Leclerc, #16, Scuderia Ferrari.

2. George Russell, #63, Mercedes AMG F1.
3. Lando Norris, #4, McLaren Racing.
4. Daniel Ricciardo, #3 McLaren Racing.
5. Pierre Gasly, #10, Scuderia AlphaTauri-RBPT.
6. Fernando Alonso, #14 Alpine F1-Renault.
7. Max Verstappen, #1 Red Bull Racing-RBPT.
8. Sergio Perez, #11, Red Bull Racing-RBPT.
9. Esteban Ocon, #31, Alpine F1-Renault.
10. Nyck de Vries, #45, Williams Racing-Mercedes.
11. Zhou Guanyu, #24, Alfa Romeo F1-Ferrari.
12. Valtteri Bottas, #77, Alfa Romeo F1-Ferrari.
13. Nicholas Latifi, #6, Williams Racing-Mercedes.
14. Sebastian Vettel, #5, Aston Martin Racing-Mercedes.
15. Lance Stroll, #18, Aston Martin Racing-Mercedes.
16. Kevin Magnussen, #20, Haas F1 Team-Ferrari.
17. Mick Schumacher, #47, Haas F1 Team-Ferrari.
18. Carlos Sainz, #55, Scuderia Ferrari.
19. Lewis Hamilton, #44, Mercedes AMG F1.

20. Yuki Tsunoda, #22, Scuderia AlphaTauri-RBPT.

 

In the earlier FP3 session, it was points leader Verstappen topping the time-sheets and ahead of Ferrari’s Leclerc who took second and Red Bull team-mate Perez completing the top three as the second F1-75 entry of Sainz placed fourth and Alpine’s Alonso rounding out the top five. You can see the full Formula 1 Pirelli Gran Premio D’Italia 2022 Free Practice 3 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1120/italy/practice-3.html

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#ItalianGP FP2 Report: @Carlossainz55 quickest ahead of @Max33Verstappen. #F1

#F1 @Pirelli #ItalianGP 2022 Race Preview.