Italian GP Qualifying: Norris leads McLaren front row Monza lockout
F1 NewsSaturday, 31 August 2024 at 17:11
Lando Norris took pole for the 2024 Italian Grand Prix for the second race in a row, as McLaren locked out the front row with Oscar Piastri second fastest.
While Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton appeared to be the favorite for pole after the final practice session, as well as Friday's running, McLaren finally showed their true pace with Norris taking his fifth career pole position while Piastri delivered a front row lockup for the Woking squad.
George Russell was best of the rest, third fastest for Mercedes, and leading local heroes Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, fourth and fifth fastest respectively for Ferrari.
Seven-time Formula 1 Champion Lewis Hamilton was only good for sixth after showing much promise earlier in the day, and as ahead of Max Verstappen who was seventh after a humbling qualifying for Red Bull.
An attempt of a tow did not seem to work for Red Bull as Sergio Perez went off into the gravel ahead of his teammate, the Mexican ending up eighth fastest himself.
Alex Albon delivered an excellent ninth position for Williams with Nico Hulkenberg completing the top ten for Haas, the seventh time the German has made the top ten shootout this season.
Norris: My lap wasn't great
Lamenting that his lap could have been better, Norris said after qualifying: "Another pole is amazing. To have first and second when the field has been so tight is surprising.
"It hurts me to say it but my lap wasn't great but I am very, very happy," he added. "I am not expecting an easy race - there are some unknown things with the tyres and degradation - but I am looking forward to it."
Second-placed Piastri added: "It was not quite enough, which I feel I have said a lot this year, but it was a really good team effort.
"There was no guarantee of a front-row lock-out so it was an amazing job to pull it off," the Australian added. "Starting second is not always the worst thing so let's see what the tyres do.
"With such a tight field, it will be exciting," he concluded.
As for Russell, he was clearly elated with third, he commented: "It was great. Ending up P3, a little bit better than I expected because it was a really tough session, Q1 and Q2. Fortunately we saved it until the end. Not too far behind the McLarens.
"They’re so fast at the moment. We’re working so hard to catch them up, but I’m super happy with third," the Briton concluded.
Q1: The rookie is eliminated
Clear conditions carried on into qualifying, but track temperature increased up to 51 degrees Celsius when Q1 was green-lighted, while ambient temperature was 34 degrees.
It will be tricky first stage of qualifying, as Monza is notorious for last minute Q1 chaos as driver fight for track position trying to get a tow.
Local heroes, Sainz and Leclerc were the first two drivers to start their flying laps, the former aborting after a moment where he dipped his rear left tyre in the gravel at Turn 7.
With a few other lap times on the board, Verstappen joined the action as well as Norris, the former going second fastest behind Leclerc, only for the latter to put in the best time.
Piastri locked up going into the first chicane and had to back out from his lap, and has to go again.
Soon the Mercedes due hit the track, and Russell went fourth fastest on his first attempt, while Hamilton went fifth fastest.
Sainz then went for another timed lap after his first was ruined, and jumps from last to third.
The first run of laps delivered the following order: Norris - Leclerc - Sainz - Verstappen - Russell - Hamilton - Piastri - Albon - Fernando Alonso - Pierre Gasly - Esteban Ocon - Hulkenberg - Kevin Magnussen - Lance Stroll - Daniel Ricciardo.
With less than three minutes remaining, the cars lined up in the pitlane for the second run, as Verstappen had quite a close call with Piastri who was sent out in the Dutchman's path.
Hamilton in the meantime was still complaining about his hot seat, while in the final seconds, Magnussen had a bizarre off-road moment, while Franco Colapinto also went into the gravel at Turn 7.
With Q1 over, it was Norris who led the way with a 1:1:19.911, 0.163s faster of Leclerc in second as Piastri was 0.002s behind the Ferrari in third.
The first driver to lose out was Yuki Tsunoda, dropped out of qualifying by his teammate Ricciardo by 0.044s, with Stroll 0.068s behind him in 17th.
Colapinto did not make it out of qualifying on his debut and will start the race from 18th on the grid, with Valtteri Bottas behind him in 19th as Zhou Guanyu finished Q1 in 20th.
Q2: Alonso doesn't make the cut
The second stage of qualifying was delayed as the gravel thrown up by the cars at Turn 7 in Q1 was being swept away by the marshals.
Sainz led Leclerc out of the pits, while Piastri cuts up teammate Norris as they exited the McLaren garage... Disagreement on the exit order?
Sainz went fastest on his first lap, but drops back behind Leclerc who went faster, while Verstappen, Norris, and Piastri were on their laps behind the Ferraris.
Verstappen goes to the top, but then Piastri takes over the top, only for Norris to go even faster than his teammate.
With less than ten minutes remaining, Hamilton and Russell started their first laps of Q2, the former going fastest, the latter going fifth.
Hamilton benefitted from a slip stream from Sainz who also went for a second run to improve to third, while Leclerc was seventh after a second effort.
Leclerc reported: "The car is not turning at all, again."
With the first runs done, it was: Hamilton - Norris - Sainz - Piastri - Verstappen - Russell - Leclerc - Perez - Hulkenberg - Albon.
With less than four minutes on the clock, the second runs of Q2 commenced, and in the end, Hamilton kept his top spot with a 1:19.641, 0.021s ahead of Verstappen in second ass Norris was third.
Alonso was the first of the 15 drivers to lose out on Q3, 11th fastest, beaten by Hulkenberg by 0.010s, and says over the radio: "I think P11 is better than expected."
Ricciardo was 12th fastest in the VCARB, 0.058s behind the Spaniard, and over two tenth clear of Magnussen in 13th.
Gasly and Ocon were 14th and 15th respectively for Alpine.
Q3: Verstappen and Red Bull fumble
Perez was the first driver to start a flying lap, followed by Piastri and Norris, the Mexican going fastest, then bettered by Piastri, who in turn was beaten by Norris.
Verstappen had another moment while exiting the pits, this time with Ferrari's Leclerc, as the teams were fighting for proper track positions.
Sainz went third fastest while Verstappen was fifth fastest with Leclerc ahead in fourth.
Russell's first timed lap was good for third while Hamilton was fourth fastest.
The first order was: Norris - Piastri - Russell - Hamilton - Sainz - Leclerc - Perez - Verstappen - Hulkenberg - Albon.
Verstappen was complaining about grip on his tyres, after replay showed he suffered a snap of oversteer at Parabolica.
Red Bull sent Verstappen and Perez out earlier, the former set to get a tow from his teammate, while trying to avoid any traffic.
Verstappen did not have the best of laps and only improves to seventh, while Norris slightly improves at the top while Piastri did not improve.
Sainz goes third fastest but loses that to Leclerc as Mercedes followed with Russell improving to third with Hamilton settling for sixth.
Norris posted a 1:19.327 to take pole at Monza, 0.109s ahead of teammate Piastri who was 0.04s ahead of Russell in third.
Leclerc managed only fourth fastest in front of the tifosi, 0.134s off the pace and 0.007s clear of Sainz, fifth fastest in the sister Red Car.
Hamilton posted a 1:19.513 to go sixth fastest, half a second clear of Verstappen in seventh. The Dutchman was a whopping seven tenths off the pace.
Perez was eighth fastest in the other Red Bull, with Albon and Hulkenberg ninth and tenth respectively.
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