Qualifying report: Charles Leclerc claims pole position in Monza!

Q1

The Red Flag came out in Q1 when Sergio Perez was forced to retire from the session due to an engine failure. The car was cleared quickly and the session restarted. Charles Leclerc topped the timesheet with Nico Hulkenberg 2nd, followed by the two Mercedes. Max Verstappen tried to run despite starting at the back of the grid, but had an engine issue and was unable to set a lap time. 

16. Romain Grosjean

17. Sergio Perez

18. George Russell 

19. Robert Kubica

20. Max Verstappen 

Q2

Lewis Hamilton topped Q2 but was closely followed by the Ferrari's of Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel in 2nd and 3rd. Daniel Ricciardo did well in his Renault and set the 4th fastest time. Kimi Raikkonen went very wide causing a Yellow Flag but did well to recover to make it through to Q3. Lance Stroll also put in an impressive lap and made it through to Q3. 

11. Antonio Giovinazzi 

12. Kevin Magnussen 

13. Daniil Kvyat 

14. Lando Norris 

15. Pierre Gasly 

Q3

At the start of Q3, it was the Mercedes who led the train of cars but they pulled over as they did not want to give the two Ferrari's a tow. This left the order of cars jumbled up and meant that drivers couldn't get the tow from their teammates. 

Kimi Raikkonen crashed out of Q3, causing the session to be Red Flagged. The Alfa Romeo driver is ok and will hope to have his car fixed in time for tomorrows race. 

The session restarted but nobody wanted to lead out the train of cars. Time was limited and the train of cars went around the track so slowly that they ran out of time! This meant that the previous timings before the Red Flag determined the outcome of the session! 

1. Charles Leclerc

2. Lewis Hamilton

3. Valtteri Bottas 

4. Sebastian Vettel

5. Daniel Ricciardo 

6. Nico Hulkenberg 

7. Carlos Sainz

8. Alex Albon

9. Lance Stroll

10. Kimi Raikkonen 

Wow! Official qualifying classification:#F1 #ItalianGP pic.twitter.com/76N2T9lTuv

— GPblog.com (@GPblog_com) September 7, 2019