Another classic on the Formula One calendar and the last European race of the season, Qualifying for tomorrow’s Grand Prix went down at Monza today. Results below the fold…
Vettel Claims Pole for Red Bull at Monza
In an unpredictable Qualifying session at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, drivers’ championship leader Sebastian Vettel took pole for Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix and Mark Webber locked out the font row for Red Bull with a strong 2nd place result just 0.2 seconds behind his teammate. Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg stunned the paddock by qualifying 3rd. The tifosi had to settle for 4th and 5th, as Ferrari struggled with the timing of their last lap drafting tactics and the underwhelming Filipe Massa actually wound up ahead of Fernando Alonso at the finish. Notable for their absence in Q3 were Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean, who qualified 11th & 13th respectively, and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, who had captured pole in the previous 4 races but placed only 12th after being somewhat impeded on his final Q2 lap by Force India’s Adrian Sutil. In fact, Sutil has just been handed a 3 grid-spot penalty from the stewards for that and so will start a lowly 17th.
Today’s top ten qualifiers for Round 12 at Monza:
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:24.319 | 1:23.977 | 1:23.755 | 15 |
| 2 | 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:24.923 | 1:24.263 | 1:23.968 | 18 |
| 3 | 11 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:24.776 | 1:24.305 | 1:24.065 | 21 |
| 4 | 4 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:24.950 | 1:24.479 | 1:24.132 | 21 |
| 5 | 3 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:24.661 | 1:24.227 | 1:24.142 | 15 |
| 6 | 9 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:24.527 | 1:24.393 | 1:24.192 | 26 |
| 7 | 19 | Daniel Ricciardo | STR-Ferrari | 1:24.655 | 1:24.290 | 1:24.209 | 24 |
| 8 | 6 | Sergio Perez | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:24.635 | 1:24.592 | 1:24.502 | 17 |
| 9 | 5 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:24.739 | 1:24.563 | 1:24.515 | 21 |
| 10 | 18 | Jean-Eric Vergne | STR-Ferrari | 1:24.630 | 1:24.575 | 1:28.050 | 20 |
Note also that both Scuderia Torro Rosso cars made it through to Q3 for the first time this year, including a strong 7th for next year’s newly named Red Bull #2 driver, Daniel Ricciardo, who will replace fellow Australian Mark Webber in 2014 as Vettel’s foil. Both McLarens also made the cut for a change, a welcome result in a very disappointing 50th season for the longtime super constructor.
Full results here and Formula1.com’s summary of today’s events here.
For those of us in the States, Sunday’s Gran Premio D’Italia can be seen on NBCSN (which has arguably the worst and least navigable website of any major broadcaster–simply awful design) at 8AM Eastern and will feature a special race-long guest appearance in the announcer’s booth by 1977’s Monza winner, the legendary Mario Andretti. Something extra to look forward to and I hope you enjoy the race at one of the iconic circuits in F1.