The first row you don’t expect. On a track that, at least on paper, must have been unfavorable to Mercedes, it was the Black Arrows that monopolized the entire front row in qualifying.
Valtteri Bottas got the pole thanks to a time of 1’15 ” 875, thus becoming the only man able to break down the wall of 1’16 ”, while Lewis Hamilton closed behind his teammate with a gap of 145 thousandths.
And Verstappen? The Dutchman, considered by all favorites for the pole position, suddenly struggled to tame his Red Bull and, also thanks to a misunderstanding in the final between Tsunoda and Perez, he had to settle for the third time with a delay of three from Bottas tenths.
An unexpected result that suddenly brought the smile back to Lewis Hamilton’s face. Up until the third free practice session it seemed that the seven-time world champion was in trouble with his W12, but once qualifying began, the situation quickly turned around.
Thanks also to an increase in the asphalt temperature, Mercedes found that grip that was missing until this morning and the team led by Toto Wolff showed itself with a double that left the Red Bull men stunned.
“Valtteri did a fantastic job and I’m really proud of him.” These were the first words of a Lewis Hamilton unexpectedly satisfied with a result that seemed impossible until the morning. “He has been driving very well in the last few races and this result is great for the team. Everyone worked a lot and we didn’t think we could monopolize the front row ”.
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
In Free Practice 3 it was striking to see the Mercedes mechanics working on the front of the cars in search of an ideal set-up. It seemed that the world championship team had lost their bearings, and instead when it came to getting serious the W12s were practically perfect.
Hamilton was unable or unwilling to explain what happened in qualifying and said he was shocked by a front row entirely monopolized by the Black Arrows.
“We don’t know what happened. First we had a gap of 6 tenths, then 4. Whatever happened during qualifying allowed us to find a great pace. I am shocked like everyone else, but I gladly accept it ”.
Lewis then paid due credit to his teammate. Bottas was incisive from the first moment he put his wheels on the track during qualifying and the pole is the right reward for what we saw on this Italian night.
“Obviously I would have preferred to be in Valtteri’s place, but he has been fantastic since Q1. I did everything to be there, but today I couldn’t do better ”.
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