It’s called the temple of Speed and that’s because it has produced some of the fastest races in Formula 1 history. It is also the track that has hosted more Formula championship races than any other. A lap around Monza is spent at over 80% full throttle.
For that reason you can understand the thrill of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc taking pole for their home grand prix over Max Verstappen’s Red Bull who was followed by the sister Ferrari of Carlos Sainz for 3rd.
A series of penalties will shuffle the starting grid with both Max and Carlos dropping down the order for taking more than their allowed allotment of engine parts for the season. This means that Ma will drop to 7th while George Russell and Lando Norris will move into 2nd and third respectively for the start of the Italian GP on Sunday.
It also means that Alex Albon’s stand-in driver, Nick de Vries, will start his Williams in P8. Albon suffering from appendicitis gave the Mercedes reserve driver chance to race in F1. It also means that Daniel Ricciardo has a whiff of a podium starting in P4 but I would imagine the faster cars, like Verstappen and Perez, may make that dream quite difficult.
Italian GP Qualifying Results:
| Pos | Name | Car | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m21.28s | 1m21.208s | 1m20.161s |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m20.922s | 1m21.265s | 1m20.306s |
| 3 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Ferrari | 1m21.348s | 1m20.878s | 1m20.429s |
| 4 | Sergio Pérez | Red Bull | 1m21.495s | 1m21.358s | 1m21.206s |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m22.048s | 1m21.708s | 1m21.524s |
| 6 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1m21.785s | 1m21.747s | 1m21.542s |
| 7 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m22.13s | 1m21.831s | 1m21.584s |
| 8 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m22.139s | 1m21.855s | 1m21.925s |
| 9 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Red Bull | 1m22.01s | 1m22.062s | 1m22.648s |
| 10 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine-Renault | 1m22.089s | 1m21.861s | |
| 11 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | 1m22.166s | 1m22.13s | |
| 12 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1m22.254s | 1m22.235s | |
| 13 | Nyck de Vries | Williams-Mercedes | 1m22.567s | 1m22.471s | |
| 14 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1m22.003s | 1m22.577s | |
| 15 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Red Bull | 1m22.02s | ||
| 16 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1m22.587s | ||
| 17 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1m22.636s | ||
| 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1m22.748s | ||
| 19 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1m22.908s | ||
| 20 | Mick Schumacher | Haas-Ferrari | 1m23.005s |
Grid Penalties:
However, there are a series of penalties that will shuffle the starting grid for Sunday’s race:
| DRIVER | PENALTY |
|---|---|
| Max Verstappen | 5 places |
| Esteban Ocon | 5 places |
| Sergio Perez | 10 places |
| Mick Schumacher | 15 places |
| Valtteri Bottas | 15 places |
| Kevin Magnussen | 15 places |
| Carlos Sainz | Back-of-grid |
| Lewis Hamilton | Back-of-grid |
| Yuki Tsunoda | Back-of-grid |
Final starting order for Italian GP
1 Leclerc
2 Russell
3 Norris
4 Ricciardo
5 Gasly
6 Alonso
7 Verstappen
8 de Vries
9 Zhou
10 Latifi
11 Vettel
12 Stroll
13 Perez
14 Ocon
15 Bottas
16 Magnussen
17 Schumacher
18 Sainz
19 Hamilton
20 Tsunoda
