Pole for Ferrari & Leclerc at Monza, rest of grid scrambled due to raft of engine & parts penalties for multiple drivers
We’re now at the point of the Formula 1 season where qualifying pace gets negated by the necessity of changing engine and transmission components resulting in grid penalties for the drivers and teams who have burned through allowable parts. This silly system was at its most disruptive after Saturday’s qualifying for tomorrow’s Italian Grand Prix, which is Round 16 of the championship. While Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc delighted the scarlet-clad tifosi in the stands by hooking up a perfect final lap to claim pole for the GP at super fast Monza, he will be one of the very few competitors starting in the position in which they actually qualified. While the provisional grid for the top ten is included below, as far as true pace it was Red Bull’s Max Verstappen who was second quickest, coming home over a tenth ahead of the other Ferrari of Carlos Sainz. While Verstappen was demoted down to P7 on the grid for his own power unit penalties, Sainz will have to start from way back in P18 due to the magnitude of changes made to his engine and gearbox. Likewise, the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez was demoted from P4 to P13. Mercedes Lewis Hamilton out-qualified his teammate George Russell but, while Russell gets elevated to P2 for tomorrow’s start as a beneficiary of not taking any engine component penalties, the seven-time Champion is relegated to the penultimate place on the grid, P19. For all the out of place runners, strategy will be key come the race, so look for teams so effected to be aggressive with either early stops for Hard Pirellis or starting on Hards and running them as long as possible to try to eliminate one pit stop during the Grand Prix.
Top 10 qualifiers for the Italian GP via Formula1.com:
| POS | DRIVER | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:21.280 | 1:21.208 | 1:20.161 | |
| 2 | 1:20.922 | 1:21.265 | 1:20.306 | |
| 3 | 1:21.348 | 1:20.878 | 1:20.429 | |
| 4 | 1:21.495 | 1:21.358 | 1:21.206 | |
| 5 | 1:22.048 | 1:21.708 | 1:21.524 | |
| 6 | 1:21.785 | 1:21.747 | 1:21.542 | |
| 7 | 1:22.130 | 1:21.831 | 1:21.584 | |
| 8 | 1:22.139 | 1:21.855 | 1:21.925 | |
| 9 | 1:22.010 | 1:22.062 | 1:22.648 | |
| 10 | 1:22.089 | 1:21.861 |
Provisional grid after penalties are factored in via Autosport.com:
| Cla | Driver | Chassis | Engine | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Charles Leclerc |
Ferrari | Ferrari | 1’20.161 | |
| 2 |  George Russell |
Mercedes | Mercedes | 1’21.542 | 1.381 |
| 3 | Lando Norris |
McLaren | Mercedes | 1’21.584 | 1.423 |
| 4 |  Daniel Ricciardo |
McLaren | Mercedes | 1’21.925 | 1.764 |
| 5 |  Pierre Gasly |
AlphaTauri | Red Bull | 1’22.648 | 2.487 |
| 6 |  Fernando Alonso |
Alpine | Renault | ||
| 7 |  Max Verstappen |
Red Bull | Red Bull | 1’20.306 | 0.145 |
| 8 | Nyck de Vries |
Williams | Mercedes | 1’22.471 | 2.310 |
| 9 |  Zhou Guanyu |
Alfa Romeo | Ferrari | 1’22.577 | 2.416 |
| 10 |  Nicholas Latifi |
Williams | Mercedes | 1’22.587 | 2.426 |
| 11 |  Sebastian Vettel |
Aston Martin | Mercedes | 1’22.636 | 2.475 |
| 12 | Lance Stroll |
Aston Martin | Mercedes | 1’22.748 | 2.587 |
| 13 |  Sergio Perez |
Red Bull | Red Bull | 1’21.206 | 1.045 |
| 14 | Esteban Ocon |
Alpine | Renault | 1’22.130 | 1.969 |
| 15 |  Valtteri Bottas |
Alfa Romeo | Ferrari | 1’22.235 | 2.074 |
| 16 |  Kevin Magnussen |
Haas | Ferrari | 1’22.908 | 2.747 |
| 17 | Mick Schumacher |
Haas | Ferrari | 1’23.005 | 2.844 |
| 18 | Carlos Sainz |
Ferrari | Ferrari | 1’20.429 | 0.268 |
| 19 | Lewis Hamilton |
Mercedes | Mercedes | 1’21.524 | 1.363 |
| 20 |  Yuki Tsunoda |
AlphaTauri | Red Bull |
Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 beginning at 9AM Eastern here in the States. With so many drivers once again out of position and determined to speed to the front, it should be a wild and wooly affair — hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!