Italian GP Qualifying: Teams & Drivers report from Monza

McLaren locked out the front row in Quaifying for Sunday's race, with Lando Norris starting P1 and Oscar Piastri in P2. Behind them there are a gaggle of drivers who fancy their chances at victory, all within a tenth of a second shy of the the second-best McLaren.

This is what teams and drivers had to report after Italian Grand Prix Qualifying at Monza, on Saturday:

P3. George Russell: P3 was a good result today. It was very tight out there between several teams so starting on the second row is not a bad place to be. It took me a little bit of time to get the most out of the car; we looked at how to get the best out of the tyres and I saved my two best laps for last. To be just one tenth off pole position is a little frustrating but overall, we can be happy with our Saturday. The McLarens are very quick at the moment. It is super impressive. Hopefully we can challenge them into the first corner and get ahead. If we can't, I think it will be difficult to race them tomorrow. It is very hot out there though and the tyres are suffering. It will be interesting to see what impact that has on the Grand Prix.

P6. Lewis Hamilton: "I am very disappointed with how today went. I think we could have been on the front-row, maybe even pole position. Unfortunately, I just didn't do the job today. I lost one tenth and-a-half through turns one and two, and then one more tenth in the final corner. There is nobody else to blame but myself. Qualifying has been a weakness of mine recently, but I'll keep trying to figure it out. We have a good race car. That should give us confidence for tomorrow. The team has done an amazing job to get the W15 into a much better window than it was in Zandvoort. The car has been feeling so much better"

Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO: "We have to be pleased with today given our poor performance in Zandvoort. We have been able to bounce back strongly here in Monza and, at least in Qualifying, we were fighting at the very front. The McLarens are the benchmark at the moment and we able to challenge them today. It was incredibly close out there too. Lewis was just half-a-tenth shy of George and that was the difference between several positions. Small differences can really have a big impact at present. The McLarens have been very good on their tyres in recent races. That will help them tomorrow and you have to say that they are favourites heading into race day. Others were quick in their long runs on Friday though so I don't think you can rule anyone out. We will be pushing hard to get back on the podium."

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director: "We knew it was going to be tight at the front today. It was therefore not unexpected that the field was so close at the end of Q3. Ferrari managed to get both of their cars into the 0.073s gap that was between Lewis and George. McLaren meanwhile have been quick at every track we've visited recently so it was no surprise to find that we couldn't quite match them. That is both frustrating and encouraging. The gap to P1 was just over one tenth of a second and pole position was within touching distance for both our drivers."

Team Report: MoneyGram Haas F1 Team drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen qualified 10th and 13th respectively for the Italian Grand Prix, Round 16 of the 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Championship. Magnussen’s opening lap proved to be his best of the session to place P13 and out of qualifying in Q2. Hulkenberg went on to capture P10 on the grid for Sunday’s 53-lap race with a Q3 hot lap of 1:20.339 on his final set of fresh softs. Lando Norris captured a second consecutive pole position courtesy of a 1:19.327 effort ahead of McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri.

P10. Nico Hulkenberg: “I think it’s a solid job to be inside the top 10. To be behind Alex (Albon) by such a small margin isn’t ideal; I lost it already into Turn 1 and 2, and on the new tire somehow I didn’t make them stick, every time on new tires it didn’t go well, so that’s something to understand. All in all, I’m happy, the car has felt pretty decent on the low downforce package, I have a good feeling and confidence and hopefully, we can take that into tomorrow. I think we’re in the mix, but I expect us all to be very tight.”

P13. Kevin Magnussen: “In Q1, the Williams went off in front of me and there was so much dust I didn’t know if he was off the track or on – I couldn’t see anything – so that lap was ruined. It’s very important to get a slipstream here, it can give you three tenths, and I went out behind the two Alpines, but they did a prep lap, so I ended up without a tow. That margin is what I’m missing for Q3 but P13 isn’t too far away from the top 10 and we can do something from there.”

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal: “It was a decent qualifying. We wanted to get both cars into Q3, but couldn’t quite achieve that. To be honest, to get out of Q1 was a bit lucky when Kevin went off on his final run, but his first run was good enough to progress. In Q2, Nico’s used tire lap was also good enough for Q3 and then in the final session we always knew, we were fighting for P9 with Alex Albon, and we lost it by four hundredths, but I think we maximized what we could. Overall it’s been a pretty satisfying day, starting P10 and P13 at a circuit where you can overtake, I think we can really fight for points.”