Italian GP: Pirelli Qualifying Review

Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen claimed a tightly-fought qualifying session at Monza on the P Zero Red supersoft tyre. He earned the Pirelli Pole Position Award from Mick Schumacher: the son of Michael Schumacher, who is the most successful driver at Monza, with five F1 wins. More history was made today with the fastest-ever lap in F1 history, breaking a record that had stood since 2004.

The top 10 on the grid will all start the race on the supersoft – used from start to finish of qualifying – which is not so far from the soft in terms of performance on the Monza circuit, with its relatively limited number of corners. A one-stop race is expected if conditions remain dry, as should be the case, despite a wet start again this morning, with more drizzle before the start of qualifying. However, with the frontrunners closely matched in terms of pace, a few top drivers starting out of
position with grid penalties, and some exceptional performances from drivers to place themselves in the top 10 on the grid, there are several intriguing variables that remain to be seen, especially if there are high temperatures tomorrow.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF CAR RACING
“After a very interrupted day yesterday, today was a bit more normal, although the teams are still missing quite a lot of representative dry running data, which should make predicting the optimal race strategy tomorrow a bit harder. Nonetheless, we would expect a one-stopper if conditions remain dry, based on the supersoft and soft. This could still change if the track conditions turn out to be very different from what we have seen so far. With the field seemingly very closely matched, and the tyres able to deliver optimal performance in a wide variety of conditions, we should see a hard-fought and rapid race tomorrow at a circuit well-known for its pure speed. Congratulations to Kimi Raikkonen and Ferrari for setting the record lap today.”

HOW THE TYRES BEHAVED TODAY
MEDIUM - Not used in qualifying or free practice but could be useful for the race.
SOFT - A key tyre for the second stint of the race but not a feature of qualifying.
SUPERSOFT - The pole-setting tyre, estimated to be around 0.4s faster than the soft.