Lando Norris continued his impressive streak by securing a sensational pole position for the 2024 Italian Grand Prix, with his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri alongside him, locking out the front row in a tightly contested qualifying session.
Norris initially took P1 during the first runs in Q3 and cemented his pole with a lap time of 1m 19.327s, narrowly edging out Piastri by 0.109 seconds. Despite McLaren’s dominance, the top six cars were separated by less than two-tenths of a second, with George Russell as the closest rival in third.
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Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz secured fourth and fifth positions, aiming to give the home crowd something to celebrate, while Lewis Hamilton posted the sixth fastest time for Mercedes.
It was a challenging session for Red Bull. Max Verstappen encountered a snap on his first flying lap and couldn’t improve significantly on his second attempt, leaving him seventh, just ahead of teammate Sergio Perez in eighth.
Rounding out the top ten were Alex Albon for Williams in ninth and Nico Hulkenberg for Haas in tenth.
Fernando Alonso narrowly missed out on Q3, finishing in 11th place for Aston Martin, just a hundredth of a second short. Daniel Ricciardo, who last won at Monza in 2021, exited in Q2, placing 12th for RB, followed by Haas’s Kevin Magnussen in 13th.
Alpine had a disappointing double elimination, with Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon ending up in 14th and 15th, respectively.
Yuki Tsunoda was pushed out of Q1 after his teammate Ricciardo improved, placing him in 16th, just ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in 17th. In his first qualifying session as a Williams F1 driver, Franco Colapinto had a minor off and finished 18th.
Meanwhile, Sauber faced a tough day, with Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu set to start from the last row in 19th and 20th positions.
Italian Grand Prix Qualifying Results
2024 Italian Grand Prix Qualifying, 31 August 2024
As it happened
Q1 – Norris Sets the Pace While Colapinto Exits in Qualifying Debut
Following a close final practice session on Saturday, where Hamilton narrowly topped the charts by 0.093 seconds over teammate Russell, drivers and teams shifted their focus to the crucial qualifying session at Monza, aiming to set the grid for the Italian Grand Prix.
Before Q1, Haas announced a gearbox replacement for Magnussen after his car stopped on track at the end of FP3. Despite this, the team worked quickly on the VF-24, raising questions about whether Magnussen would make it to the session.
As the green light signalled the start of Q1 at 16:00 local time, Ferrari’s Leclerc and Sainz were among the first to hit the track, followed by Magnussen after his gearbox change.
There were early challenges as Sainz had to abort his first flying lap after running wide and dipping a wheel into the gravel, narrowly avoiding a bigger incident. Piastri also encountered issues, cutting across the apex at the first corner on his attempt.
At the halfway point of Q1, Norris led the timesheets with a lap of 1m 19.911s, just over a tenth clear of Leclerc, with Sainz in third. Meanwhile, Perez found himself at risk in P19, alongside Colapinto, Tsunoda, Bottas, and Zhou in the elimination zone.
Red Bull opted for a fresh set of tyres for Perez, who moved up to P9 on his second attempt. Piastri was noted for an unsafe release after coming out just ahead of Verstappen, prompting Verstappen to comment, “We almost crashed,” over the radio.
Perez improved his time, but Colapinto and Magnussen had incidents, resulting in yellow flags. Ricciardo narrowly avoided elimination by moving up to P15, knocking out his teammate Tsunoda, who ended in P16. Stroll, Colapinto, and the Sauber drivers, Bottas and Zhou, were also eliminated in Q1.
Knocked out: Tsunoda, Stroll, Colapinto, Bottas, Zhou
Q2 – Hamilton Leads the Way, Alonso Just Misses the Cut
After a brief delay in cleaning up gravel on the track, Q2 began with Sainz leading the pack. Teams utilized slipstreams as they set their first laps of the session.
Norris again went fastest after the initial runs, with a lap of 1m 19.727s, just ahead of teammate Piastri and Verstappen in third. However, when the Mercedes drivers emerged on fresh tyres, Hamilton jumped to P1, beating Norris by a narrow margin of 0.086 seconds.
As the session continued, Alonso, Magnussen, Gasly, Ocon, and Ricciardo were at risk of elimination. With all drivers except Norris and Sainz returning for final attempts, Albon and Hulkenberg improved their times to move into the top ten.
Despite his best efforts, Alonso missed Q3 by just one-hundredth of a second, finishing P11. Ricciardo also couldn’t improve and ended in P12, while Magnussen, Gasly, and Ocon finished in P13, P14, and P15.
Knocked out: Alonso, Ricciardo, Magnussen, Gasly, Ocon
Q3 – McLaren Secure the Front Row as Red Bull Fall Away
As the top ten shootout began, Albon was the first to hit the track, with teams again employing slipstream tactics. The McLarens and Mercedes cars worked together, while Ferrari had Verstappen sandwiched between them. Sainz was noted for a potentially unsafe release in front of Verstappen.
Norris took provisional pole with a lap of 1m 19.401s, with Piastri just 0.035 seconds behind, securing a McLaren one-two. The Mercedes cars followed in third and fourth, with Ferraris in fifth and sixth, and Red Bulls in seventh and eighth.
Verstappen struggled on his flying lap due to a big snap and expressed his frustration, calling his lap “shocking” over the radio. As the drivers prepared for their final runs, McLaren aimed to maintain their front-row lockout.
In the closing moments, Norris secured pole with a time of 1m 19.327s, just 0.109 seconds ahead of Piastri. Russell claimed third, outpacing the Ferrari duo of Leclerc and Sainz in fourth and fifth, with Hamilton in sixth. The top six were separated by less than two-tenths of a second, showcasing the competitiveness of the session.
Red Bull’s struggles continued, with Verstappen and Perez finishing in P7 and P8, respectively. Albon and Hulkenberg completed the top ten in P9 and P10.
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