Verstappen To Start On Pole At The Italian Grand Prix #F1
Monza
The Sprint Qualifying worked very well for Max Verstappen as he picks up a couple of points and will start the Italian Grand Prix from pole position because of the grid penalty for Bottas.
In the other Red Bull, Checo had to fight a bit more to finish where he started in ninth place. Unfortunately, the afternoon did not go well for AlphaTauri, even if Yuki actually finished one place than he started after coming in for a nose change. After making up a couple of places off the line, Pierre clipped a McLaren ahead of him, which caused him to crash as his wing went under the car and he faces a tough afternoon tomorrow. Our other three drivers showed good pace, so we can hope for a strong performance in the Grand Prix itself.
Max will start from pole position in the Italian Grand Prix after a controlled drive in the Sprint, but there was heartache for Scuderia AlphaTauri.
On the opening lap, Max made a great start to run second to Valtteri Bottas, who has a grid penalty to take tomorrow for exceeding power unit components. Pierre also made a really strong start and was fighting for fourth into the first chicane, but just tapped the rear of Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren and damaged his front wing.
With the front wing broken, it then failed on Pierre’s car as he rounded the high-speed Curva Grande and he was a passenger as the car hit the barriers, taking him out of the race. We’ll now assess the damage to see if he can start from the back of the grid or the pit lane on Sunday.
Yuki’s hopes were also then hit when he was involved in light contact with Robert Kubica that also damaged his front wing, necessitating a pit stop that dropped him to the back of the field. Sergio lost some ground in the opening battles but both he and Yuki then set about making amends.
Having started on soft tyres - compared to mediums for the Red Bulls and Pierre - Yuki overtook Nikita Mazepin into Turn 1 on the eighth lap, moving up to 16th place, meaning he will start from 15th on Sunday. He was also the fastest driver through the speed trap in the race, clocking 356 km/h.
One lap later, Sergio fought with Lance Stroll and was forced wide at the first chicane, giving up the position before making the move stick with a strong move down the outside under braking on Lap 10. That put Sergio ninth, and he too will gain a position on the grid tomorrow when Bottas drops to the back.
Max showed strong pace throughout but sat behind Bottas with no need to take any risks, ensuring he will start from pole position on Sunday having extended his championship lead to five points.