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Max Verstappen will start from
pole position to set off in pursuit of the Chimera winner’s trophy for the
Italian Grand Prix. In fact, in over half the races at Monza, the win has
gone to a driver starting from the front row: 25 times from pole position
and 14 from the second grid slot. The lowest grid position from which the
race has been won is 11, which was down to Peter Gethin who was victorious
in a BRM in 1971. That race is in the history books for the smallest winning
margin (one hundredth of a second) between Gethin and second placed Ronnie
Peterson. In fact, the first five past the chequered flag were covered by
just 61 hundredths.
The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to
the four time world champion by the Italian artist Nico Vascellari, who
created the trophy known as “Chimera” which will be presented to the drivers
on the podium on Sunday. Vascellari’s work can be seen in important private
collections and museums including MAXXI in Rome, the Bolzano Museum and the
Museo del ‘900 in Milan.
This is Max’s 45th pole, the second at
Monza, following on from 2021. His time today of 1’18”792 is not only a
record for this track, but is also the highest average speed (264.423 km/h)
ever recorded in qualifying in the history of Formula 1, thus ensuring that
Monza lives up to its nickname of the Temple of Speed.
Alongside
Verstappen tomorrow will be Lando Norris in the McLaren (1’18”869), a time
which also beat the existing lap record set in 2020 by Lewis Hamilton in
1’18”887. On the second row in third spot is championship leader Oscar
Piastri (McLaren) with a time of 1’18”982 and in fourth place, last year’s
Monza winner, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc (1’19”007).
THE DAY ON TRACK
In the third free practice session, a further seven drivers - Piastri,
Norris, Tsunoda, Stroll, Alonso, Colapinto and Gasly – did at least one
proper run on a set of Hards, while Hadjar and the two Aston Martin drivers
scrubbed in a set of the C3. This means Max Verstappen is the only driver to
have saved both his sets of the hardest compound for tomorrow’s race. In
contrast, Hadjar has saved two sets of new Mediums, while the Mercedes duo
of Kimi Antonelli and George Russell have two, even if they used a set in
the first part of Q1, the only drivers to have used anything other than
Softs in this session. |
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MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING
“Once again a very closely contested qualifying, with all 20 drivers lapping
within just over eight tenths of a second in Q1, while the top ten in Q2
were separated by less than three tenths. The final runs in Q3 were
thrilling, ending with yet another demonstration of Max Verstappen’s amazing
talent. His pole is also significant, as the lap is the fastest ever
recorded in Formula 1.
In qualifying, we saw that the Soft was
clearly the fastest compound. Those like the Mercedes duo who ran the Medium
were also competitive, indeed Russell was quickest in Q1 on the C4, but that
was more down to him feeling more comfortable with a tyre that, while
offering less performance, gave the driver more confidence. The C5 is a very
quick compound but it is not easy to find its peak performance, as was
proved by the fact it could produce excellent times even after one or two
cool-down laps, or on a second run. This means that once it stabilised, the
Soft might give the driver more confidence to push.
“In terms of
strategy, from the three hours of free practice it’s clear to see that this
will be a race with only one pit stop. Medium and Hard should be the
compounds doing most of the work, offering the best compromise between
performance and durability and, between the two there’s not much difference
in terms of degradation. Having said that, the Soft could find itself with
an important role, especially for drivers able to lengthen the opening stint
at least to lap 32, or on the other hand, if there’s a neutralisation
towards the end of the race."
FORMULA 2
Leonardo Fornaroli extended his lead in the championship with
his fourth win of the season. The Invicta Racing driver started from third,
rapidly moving into the lead after which he managed the race, fending off
the attentions of second placed Arvid Lindblad. AIX Racing’s Joshua Durksen
took the flag in fourth place but was promoted to third on the podium after
Dino Beganovic was given a five second penalty for an infringement during
the Virtual Safety Car.
FORMULA 3
It looked like Tim Tramnitz (MP
Motorsport) had taken a well deserved win in the final Sprint Race of the
season, but he was later given a 10 second penalty which dropped the German
outside the points. The win therefore went to Poland’s Roman Bilinski (Rodin
Motorsport), who crossed the finish line just 353 thousandths of a second
ahead of the Norwegian Martinius Stenshorne (Hitech TGR) and 659 thousandths
in front of Dutchman Laurens van Hoepen (ART Grand Prix), who were thus
classified second and third."
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