F1 results: Timings from Italian Grand Prix qualifying
A view of the Monza track from the old banking. Italy, August 2023.
The Tifosi cheered Ferrari and Carlos Sainz on to take a sensational pole for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
Sainz withstood the threat of Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc and Red Bull’s runaway Championship leader Max Verstappen to send the home crowd into raptures, even withstanding a steward’s investigation to claim pole for the Italian Grand Prix.
With the Alternative Tyre Allocation [ATA] format in use for this race weekend, it meant hard compound tyres were mandatory for the Q1 stage.
Pole favourite Max Verstappen got the better of the pack in that hard-tyre running, topping Q1 by 0.088s over Williams’ Alex Albon.
At the other end of the timesheet, Lance Stroll was P20 and last, while both Alpine drivers Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, plus Kevin Magnussen and Zhou Guanyu joined him in suffering elimination.
Onto the medium tyres for Q2 as the remaining 15 drivers went to battle.
News soon came through that both Ferrari drivers, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, were being investigated for potentially failing to respect the maximum 1:41 lap time.
No verdict came in Q2 as Verstappen topped the session from Leclerc, while Yuki Tsunoda, Liam Lawson, Nico Hulkenberg, Valtteri Bottas and Logan Sargeant were eliminated.
Onto the Q3 shootout for pole then where the soft tyres came into play, Sainz winning the opening battle as he put his Ferrari on provisional pole ahead of the final attempts.
And after Leclerc and then Verstappen snatched pole for themselves, Sainz took it back with his last lap, clearing Verstappen by 0.013s as the former team-mates take care of Sunday’s front row, as it stood.
We now waited to see what verdict the stewards come up with, and it was the best possible news for Ferrari, with the stewards deciding now further action was needed, confirming Sainz’s pole position.
Q3 timings
1 Carlos SAINZ Ferrari 1:20.294
2 Max VERSTAPPEN Red Bull Racing +0.013
3 Charles LECLERC Ferrari +0.067
4 George RUSSELL Mercedes +0.377
5 Sergio PEREZ Red Bull Racing +0.394
6 Alexander ALBON Williams +0.466
7 Oscar PIASTRI McLaren +0.491
8 Lewis HAMILTON Mercedes +0.526
9 Lando NORRIS McLaren +0.685
10 Fernando ALONSO Aston Martin +1.123
Q2 timings
1 Max VERSTAPPEN Red Bull Racing 1:20.937
2 Charles LECLERC Ferrari +0.040
3 Carlos SAINZ Ferrari +0.054
4 Sergio PEREZ Red Bull Racing +0.303
5 Alexander ALBON Williams +0.335
6 Lewis HAMILTON Mercedes +0.432
7 George RUSSELL Mercedes +0.445
8 Oscar PIASTRI McLaren +0.590
9 Fernando ALONSO Aston Martin +0.606
10 Lando NORRIS McLaren +0.644
11 Yuki TSUNODA AlphaTauri +0.657
12 Liam LAWSON AlphaTauri +0.821
13 Nico HULKENBERG Haas F1 Team +0.839
14 Valtteri BOTTAS Alfa Romeo +1.003
15 Logan SARGEANT Williams +1.007
Q1 timings
1 Max VERSTAPPEN Red Bull Racing 1:21.573
2 Alexander ALBON Williams +0.088
3 Charles LECLERC Ferrari +0.215
4 Yuki TSUNODA AlphaTauri +0.279
5 Sergio PEREZ Red Bull Racing +0.338
6 Logan SARGEANT Williams +0.357
7 Carlos SAINZ Ferrari +0.392
8 Lewis HAMILTON Mercedes +0.404
9 Lando NORRIS McLaren +0.422
10 Fernando ALONSO Aston Martin +0.470
11 Oscar PIASTRI McLaren +0.533
12 Liam LAWSON AlphaTauri +0.539
13 George RUSSELL Mercedes +0.575
14 Valtteri BOTTAS Alfa Romeo +0.676
15 Nico HULKENBERG Haas F1 Team +0.770
16 Guanyu ZHOU Alfa Romeo +0.817
17 Pierre GASLY Alpine +0.972
18 Esteban OCON Alpine +0.975
19 Kevin MAGNUSSEN Haas F1 Team +1.019
20 Lance STROLL Aston Martin +1.287