McLaren never stops: to Lando Norris’ pole position in Holland, the Woking team also adds Oscar Piastri’s second time in Monza. Andrea Stella’s team takes the front row in the Italian GP and Norris collects the fifth pole position start of his career, which is the third of the season. Lando made the difference by putting just over a tenth of a second ahead of his teammate, but it’s incredible to see that the other drivers are enclosed in just 77 thousandths of a second! Nothing, not even a blink of an eye.
Norris, in addition to receiving the Pirelli rubber, was given the precious ring that is given to the poleman in this event. Behind the two MCL38s is George Russell with the Mercedes: the Englishman missed the front row by 4 thousandths of a second, but tomorrow in the race the game will be wide open for the top six and the difference, most likely, will be made by the wear of the tyres. In the single lap the temple of speed with the new asphalt gave the value of how much the grip has improved: Norris lowered the performance of last year’s pole by nine tenths, but in the long runs on Friday the threat was the graining that when it appeared reduced the pace for a few laps. Will we see graining again in the race? It’s easy to think not, but the pace that each of the top 6 drivers will be able to maintain in the two runs will count.
Ferrari invested in Monza to have a very efficient SF-24 not only with the new floor, but also with the very light package designed for the Stradale. Charles Leclerc fourth and Carlos Sainz fifth left the Prancing Horse fans with a bitter taste in their mouths: of course the position of the reds on the grid is not ideal, but the gap is negligible. You can pass on the temple of speed, so it is reasonable to think that Ferrari will be better in the race than it was in the single lap. The 4 degree drop between the start of Q1 and the end of Q3 may have been enough to change the balance of the red, leaving something in the decisive lap.
It’s not a drama, even if McLaren can control the start of the race with Norris and Piastri in front of everyone. Lando will be able to erase the start syndrome because he has a papaya car that is the point of reference for the Circus today, but also Lewis Hamilton, author of a less than perfect lap in Q3, is rightfully among the contenders for the victory because he was in the third row at the start.
The one in trouble is Max Verstappen: the Dutchman with a Red Bull in crisis was unable to break the 1’20” wall, worsening by a couple of tenths the performance he had managed to achieve in Q2 and this is an anomaly referred to the team from Milton Keynes. The world champion is seventh on the grid, but what is worrying is the 695 thousandths of a gap that testifies to the moment of confusion of a team that seems to have lost the compass of development. Sergio Perez is close to his teammate: if the race were to photocopy the starting grid, the novelty would be that McLaren would already be leading the Constructors’ World Championship! All this says a lot about how things can change in F1.
Alexander Albon performed well, finishing ninth for Williams, while Nico Hulkenberg showed how consistent he is by putting Haas in tenth place, once again in a useful area to score points.
Fernando Alonso tried to get the Aston Martin into Q3, but despite the Spaniard’s efforts, he was out by just one hundredth of a second to Nico Hulkenberg. Daniel Ricciardo did his part on the track where he had won with McLaren: the Australian was 12th ahead of the second Haas, Kevin Magnussen. The Dane had a jolt in Q1 when his VF-24 approached the Parabolica at low speed, when he had already qualified for the central round. Kevin managed to get to the pit lane at a slow pace, but after an electronics reset he was able to resume qualifying in Q2, holding on to 13th place.
The Alpine drivers have done their part with dignity: the team is experiencing a moment of turbulence with the strike at Viry Chatillon in protest against the desire to install a Mercedes power unit in 2026 instead of the Renault one that is in gestation. Pierre Gasly is 14th ahead of his compatriot Esteban Ocon. The two are separated by 28 thousandths, a sign that they have reached the limit of the A524, a car that shows cooling difficulties and that needs large air vents even on a fast track like Monza.
Yuki Tsunoda fails to pass the Q1 trap: the Japanese driver paid 44 thousandths from his teammate and closed the qualifying session in 16th position with the Racing Bulls. The Japanese driver preceded a disappointing Lance Stroll: the Canadian did not find the right lap with the AMR24 that lacked efficiency on the long straights.
Franco Colapinto is 18th: the 21-year-old rookie after the first run of Q1 was immediately behind the Williams of his teammate, Alexander Albon. The Argentine who took over from Logan Sargeant tried to improve with the second set of softs, but the youngster coming from F2 went wide at the second Lesmo curve and was very good at not losing the FW46: in the end it went well because he managed to avoid going off the track.
The last row belongs to Sauber: the Swiss team has been getting worse and worse, a sign that the C46 is not giving the drivers what the technicians in Hinwil expected. Valtteri Bottas, who is negotiating his contract renewal, preceded Guanyu Zhou by almost three tenths. The Chinese driver is now an extra in the Circus: as the races went by, he got lost. It’s a shame, because he has regressed a lot…
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