2021 Italian Grand Prix qualifying report & highlights: Bottas defeats Hamilton at Monza to win first grid place for F1 Sprint

Outgoing Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas won the Pirelli Speed ​​King Award at Monza, being the fastest in qualifying at the Italian Grand Prix, meaning he will start P1 for Saturday’s F1 Sprint, after having beaten his teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Bottas, who announced earlier this week that he will be heading to Alfa Romeo for 2022, set a breakneck pace in his final flight run in Friday night’s qualifying session at Monza, stopping qualifying with a time 1 m 19.555, 0.096 s longer than Hamilton.

F1 SPRINT: What to expect each day as the exciting format returns to Monza

And if Bottas will start the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday from the back of the grid after suffering a series of engine penalties this weekend, he will nevertheless have a role to play for Mercedes by starting P1 of the F1 Sprint in hope to take points. by Max Verstappen of Red Bull.

Verstappen had watched the pace of the Mercedes on Friday. And this was confirmed in qualifying, as the Dutch driver took P3 on the grid for Red Bull, 0.411s behind Bottas.

McLaren was one of the surprises of qualifying, Lando Norris finishing Q1 and Q2 in P3 and ahead of Verstappen. But Norris eventually finished fourth, just two hundredths behind the Dutch driver, with teammate Daniel Ricciardo equally impressive to take fifth place.

Pierre Gasly finished sixth for AlphaTauri, ahead of the two Ferraris of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc – both Ferraris in Q3 this year, unlike last year when neither car reached the last segment of qualifying. Sergio Perez was a disappointing ninth for Red Bull, ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi’s Alfa Romeo.

Aston Martin was a surprise exit from Q2, going well in Friday’s FP1 session, Sebastian Vettel taking 11th place from Lance Stroll’s 12th place, with Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon’s Alpine behind in 13th. and 14th place, ahead of the Williams of George Russell and Nicholas Latifi. .

Yuki Tsunoda from AlphaTauri, Mick Schumacher from Haas, Robert Kubica’s second Alfa and Nikita Mazepin’s second Haas completed the 20 cars.

More soon…

AS IT HAPPENED

Q1 – Tsunoda’s lap removal promotes Russell to Q2 as Hamilton is fastest

With Ferrari having designated their home race at Monza as a race where they might struggle due to a power unit deficit, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were sent to the track early, appearing to play with the mighty towing the Temple of Speed ​​- said to be worth up to seven-tenths of a lap here.

Traffic in Q1 was always likely to be an issue with 20 cars on the track – and it turned out, with a number of difficult moments as drivers encountered cars as they did fast laps, Pierre Gasly was particularly exasperated by calling the situation “af * ***** joking”.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about the F1 Sprint format when it returns this weekend to Monza

With the scramble over and the laps saved, Hamilton continued on to Mercedes’ form of FP1 – where he had led the 0.452s Verstappen session – to go fastest, 0.142s on teammate Bottas, while Lando Norris McLaren took an impressive third, just 0.373s behind Hamilton, and more than a tenth ahead of Verstappen in P4.

Sainz and Leclerc’s towing antics, meanwhile, earned them fifth and seventh places – with Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi doing a good job of separating them in P6.

Initially, it seemed that both Williams had been eliminated in Q1. But Yuki Tsunoda subsequently saw his last lap deleted for track limits at Turn 11 – the new Curva Alboreto – promoting newly signed Mercedes driver Russell into Q2, as Nicholas Latifi, Tsunoda, Mick Schumacher, Kimi Raikkonen replacing Robert. Kubica and Nikita Mazepin came out.

KO: Latifi, Tsunoda, Schumacher, Kubica, Mazepin

Q2 – Alpines and Aston Martins retire as Hamilton is fastest again

The big surprise after the opening bet in Q2 was the pace – or lack of pace – of the Red Bulls, with Verstappen P6 after the first runs, 0.774s off Hamilton’s initial effort of 1m 19.936s, while Perez took 10th place, 1,210s behind – both bulls with work to do.

Monza 2019 winner Leclerc, meanwhile, having detected a problem with his SF21 in Q1, complained loudly about his car’s engine braking, which seemed to undermine his confidence in his prancing horse.

As the drivers headed for their final efforts in the segment, Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel turned an ace of hitting Hamilton in the pit lane as he exited his garage.

Once the drivers got back in order, however, Hamilton and Bottas failed to improve on their first laps with used softer tires, but were still quick enough to lead the session, with Norris taking to again the P3 to the P4 of Verstappen (Verstappen at least having approached 0.293 seconds behind Hamilton on his last run), Ricciardo taking fifth place.

Fernando Alonso headed for the final rounds of Q2 as the only driver to yet have set a lap time, having made a mistake at Turn 1 on his first effort. But neither the Spaniard nor his Alpine teammate Esteban Ocon were able to get out of Q3, with Alonso and Ocon ranking 13th and 14th respectively.

The Aston Martins had been quick in FP1, but couldn’t make it through Q3 either, with Vettel taking 11th place, a place ahead of Lance Stroll – who had finished fourth in the morning session – as Russell took 15th place .

Ferrari, meanwhile, avenged their double failure to qualify for Q3 from 2020, with Sainz and Leclerc qualifying for the last part of qualifying in eighth and ninth, ahead of Perez – Leclerc seemingly managing to sidestep his problems.

Gasly and Giovinazzi were the other two drivers to qualify.

Knocked Out: Vettel, Stroll, Alonso, Ocon, Russell

Q3 – Bottas stuns with fastest time as Mercedes dominates

The first laps of Q3 saw Verstappen race a lot more, Hamilton once again rose to the challenge with 1m 19.949, but Verstappen just 0.017s behind in P2, while Norris claimed the P3, just 0.065s from Hamilton.

Bottas, on the other hand, was behind Ricciardo in P5, and half a second behind, having run wild as he came out of the second chicane and hugged the gravel.

As the drivers raced to Monza for their final laps, Bottas was in inspired form, clocking purple times in the first two sectors before crossing the line in 1m 19.555 to take provisional pole.

He had even towed his team-mate Hamilton – but although Monza’s seven-time poleman improved to 1m 19.651s, that still left him 0.096s behind Bottas, who may have said some concerns… ”in his helmet afterwards the announcement of his departure for Alfa Romeo for 2022, when he was the fastest in qualifying for the first time since Portimao.

Verstappen ultimately wasn’t going to improve on his second lap, but had done enough in his first run to grab third place on the grid in Saturday’s F1 sprint – even though he was 0.411 seconds behind. de Bottas – Verstappen ahead of the impressive Norris, who took fourth, while Ricciardo would have been delighted to be just 0.006 seconds behind his teammate as he clinched fifth place.

As at Zandvoort, Gasly beat both Ferraris to take sixth place, with Sainz ahead of Leclerc in seventh and eighth, Perez a modest ninth in the second Red Bull, while Giovinazzi completed the top 10, after his second consecutive appearance in Q3.

Thus, the battle promises to be beautifully ready for the return of the Sprint on Saturday. But starting from P3 on the grid, will Verstappen be aggressive in trying to disrupt the Mercedes? Or save your firepower for Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix? Log on to Formula1.com to find out.

The key quote

“This qualifying round was pleasant. It’s so good when you do a good lap and I managed to keep it until the end and also had a bit of towing eventually so it was good fun I enjoyed.

“I feel good, I feel relaxed and everything is set for the future. Obviously, yes, really happy with the team today; the car has been so good and obviously further next year there will be some exciting new things for me and i am looking forward to it. But for now, focus on the Sprint race of tomorrow. Of course, start from the front, hoping to get the maximum points tomorrow and do the best possible job on Sunday ”- Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes

And after?

With qualifying over, teams and drivers now have one more practice session on Saturday morning, before tackling the second F1 sprint in history – with the winner of that competition taking pole for the Grand Prix d ‘ Italy Sunday.