Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Monza, 2020

2020 Italian Grand Prix grid

2020 Italian Grand Prix

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Row 11. Lewis Hamilton 1’18.887
Mercedes
2. Valtteri Bottas 1’18.956
Mercedes
Row 23. Carlos Sainz Jnr 1’19.695
McLaren
4. Sergio Perez 1’19.720
Racing Point
Row 35. Max Verstappen 1’19.795
Red Bull
6. Lando Norris 1’19.820
McLaren
Row 47. Daniel Ricciardo 1’19.864
Renault
8. Lance Stroll 1’20.049
Racing Point
Row 59. Alexander Albon 1’20.090
Red Bull
10. Pierre Gasly 1’20.177
AlphaTauri
Row 611. Daniil Kvyat 1’20.169
AlphaTauri
12. Esteban Ocon 1’20.234
Renault
Row 713. Charles Leclerc 1’20.273
Ferrari
14. Kimi Raikkonen 1’20.926
Alfa Romeo
Row 815. Kevin Magnussen 1’21.573
Haas
16. Romain Grosjean 1’21.139
Haas
Row 917. Sebastian Vettel 1’21.151
Ferrari
18. Antonio Giovinazzi 1’21.206
Alfa Romeo
Row 1019. George Russell 1’21.587
Williams
20. Nicholas Latifi 1’21.717
Williams

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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75 comments on “2020 Italian Grand Prix grid”

  1. Something wrong with those times?

    1. Yea, instead of Bourbon, there is now Beer and still the kids couldn’t hold their drink.

    2. Now been fixed.

  2. Well done FIA, RB, Ferrari etc… hehehe let’s slow down Mercedes. GET IN THERE LEWIS!!!

  3. Get ready
    100 Poles
    100 Victories
    All time greatest
    Fastest driver EVER

    1. Haha! Hamilton’s not even the fastest driver of this current grid, or even his generation let alone of all time!

      1. So who is the fastest driver on the grid, and of his generation?

        1. This should be fun /grabsPopcorn

        2. I recon Max could outperform Lewis.

        3. Probably Verstappen is the most talented and fastest ever, as it has been hinted on this comment section a couple of times already.

      2. Slow clap for John!
        Bravo sir, Bravo.

      3. Today’s 164+mph average lap IS faster than ANY OTHER Driver in history as far as I understand Joan

      4. Not to fuel the flames, but the “asterisk” on Hamilton career would be whom he beaten and who beaten him.
        Compare it to Prost. The “least” menacing of his adversaries was Mansell. Some of Prost’s adversaries, if not teammates, were Lauda, Piquet, Senna.
        Beating Alonso and, for some time, Vettel seemed to be a feat. But when your main rival on a given season is Massa, Button, Rosberg or Bottas, is it really the fiercest competition on F1 history?

        1. 3 world champions he’s raced against, makes you look a little silly if we are honest.

          1. In the same machinery I hasten to add

      5. Yes the data shows otherwise? Max did’nt become WC yet whereas Lewis was champ in his second year… Ham seems on rails, whereas Ver cannot prove he can ever be the fastest and win regularly in an inferior car. Ham worked hard on becoming the fastest car/driver combo and untill anyone else can show they can beat whatever he achieved, Hamilton will be the G.o.a.t. both sportive and as an influential human. Prove otherwise but you can’t, anything else will be speculation and fantasy.

      6. John, and into the gutter this thread is being dragged with the childish arguments of “no, my driver is better than your driver” – it really is kind of pathetic that every single thread has to be dragged into this sort of inane bickering.

  4. Albon got so Lucky with that Q2 Yellow flag. Kvyat had to lift while he was way faster then Albon.

  5. Well the quali mode ban worked well. Red Bull in row 3 and Ferrari elsewhere. Exciting for all of the other teams.

    1. Blaize Falconberger (@)
      5th September 2020, 15:07

      It amuses me greatly… all this moaning and trying to hobble the opposition via regulation proving is counter productive.

      1. As was predicted by everyone. Why the fIA, RB etc couldn’t see this happening is bizarre. Still… Enjoy the 3rd row Mark and Christian 😂

          1. I think he means Marko and Horner but it took a bit to figure it out.

          2. Indeed…I meant Marko! Damn phone

  6. I must be in the minority that’s starting to find this awfully boring now.

    1. Its not that bad after top two

    2. That’s makes 2 of us. I only pop in here after qualifying and the race these days and the result is pretty much always the same.

    3. I see this as poetic justice. Enjoy.

    4. Starting? You’ve been saying this since Race 1 :-)

      1. Odd that, cars on the track basically all Q3. Instead of a lone car we saw a handful all on the same bit of tarmac racing each other. Grid a bit mixed up, cars avoiding others, slamming on their brakes, going side by side, times deleted. Thought that was quite an enjoyable hours entertainment. And people found that boring to watch? Unless of course all they care about is who is up the front?

    5. petebaldwin (@)
      5th September 2020, 15:23

      Hamilton fans love the current state of F1 so if you look on here or the BBC comments section, you’ll be in the minority. If you go elsewhere online, you’ll see that most agree with you.

      I was a huge Hamilton fan back in the early part of his career – the 2008 win was one of the most exciting things I’ve seen in 25+ years of following F1 but watching him cruise around in a car much faster than the rest isn’t interesting.

  7. Hahahaha RedBull crying for a ban and they are the team to suffer most. More of this please. Karma.

  8. How was Albon that slow on his final run? He should’ve beaten the three between him and his teammate. Sainz’s pace, though. I expect more from Renault given the track characteristics.

    1. Albon was only .3s from verstappen. Field is just that close.

    2. ‘expected’

      1. @jerejj same here. Showed a lot of promise at Spa. They have been doing well at power hungry circuits for a couple of years now. Turns out, engine modes played a significant role in their performances and now they are forced to find a midway to make up for reliability.

  9. lol they alr know its a 90th win for lewis when it got flashed by mistake at the parc ferme. mercedes once again crippled bottas by not allowing him the tow.

    1. @f1fan-2000 Neither Merc want the tow, they probably think it’s not worth the risk… and they are right… as long as it’s the same for both drivers it’s not necessary to beat other teams

    2. They have been taking turns at the front since Bottas signed. You reckon Mercedes deliberately planned this back in 2017?

    3. BOT had the tow last week at Spa. Merc alternate who goes out first at every race. BOT sped well out into the distance too so the tow Lewis got was minimal…Probably half a tenth which was the difference today but BOT couldn’t benefit last week at Spa.
      Where we’re RB today?? The protagonists of this stupid “party mode” ban…justice tastes sweet.

      1. **Correction** BOT chose not to have the tow today, as Lewis did at Spa. Seems they alternate the “option” of when/where they want to run. Lewis chose not to at Spa and BOT chose not to today. Interesting.

    4. @f1fan-2000 doesn’t that then apply to both drivers, given that Hamilton seemed to be too far back to gain a tow himself? In that situation, aren’t both drivers crippled to the same extent if they are operating on their own, and therefore the net effect is that neither gains?

      1. Ah wasn’t sure how far they were apart but Lewis was behind Bottas

        1. @f1fan-2000 the timing data indicates that the gap between Bottas and Hamilton was approximately 9 seconds – on those final laps, Bottas was roughly the full length of the straights ahead of Hamilton, so it would be very unlikely that he’s getting any benefit from that far back.

    5. Seems even Bottas doesn’t buy into your claim.

  10. Haha great job by RB trying to slow Mercedes, waiting for Horner to come out and blame the cleaner. He’s blamed everyone else for their inability to challenge Merc.

  11. Faster driver ever in F1, quickly followed by Horner claiming it’s only because of their party mode.

    1. Senna was the fastest.

  12. Slow hand clap for Red Bull. It wasn’t party mode that made them faster, it made you faster.

    On the most power dependant circuit of them all, and no party modes – fastest Honda is 5th.

    Really makes me happy.

    1. @sham we will have to see how it pans out in the race, but certainly right now it does not look like Marko’s decision to lobby hard for this particularly change to be made has worked out particularly well for Red Bull.

  13. Well, the party is clearly over but not for Mercedes. Turns out Honda and Red Bull are the most affected- and Renault engined cars the most beneficial. Hamilton showing his class yet again and honourable mentions to Bottas and Sainz.

    1. I am a little apprehensive about the gains Renault have here. While the Renault has been performing quite well in low down force tracks, the customer teams have done well here. Maybe because of a better tow, etc. But I think the majority of us expected Daniel and Esteban to qualify atleast a couple of places higher.

  14. Party mode over, no problem,
    NORMAL SERVICE CONTINUES 😂.
    Sainz, Perez what a performance.
    Seems party mode ban affected RedBull more than anyone, how ironic!!!

  15. The one who complains most, loses most. Red Bull clearly affected by lack of engine modes and despite running close behind the Mercedes, it wasn’t enough. Clearly Mclaren have a solid chasis.

  16. This was 68th pole for Lewis with Mercedes equalling Schumachers 68 career poles at Monza.

  17. If F1 was remotely innovative or smart, it would mandate the old style of qualifying (individual laps, championship order) for Monza from next season, and the idiotic Bahrein ‘Outer Circuit’ this year. This was nonsense. Embarrassing for the sport.

  18. There’s a huge part of me that is happy that Red Bull’s politics has backfired massively. Obviously sucks that Mercedes are miles clear but the fight for 3rd should be hugeee tomorrow

  19. What say you now Marko? Sorry, how much I waited to say that!

  20. Whilst people are disappointed over the gap between the Mercs and others; surely they are pleased the huge gap between Max and the rest has gone?

  21. Made my Day!!
    Horner et al Hoist with their own petard!
    FIA? 100% proof of How rubbish changing Rules in season really is.
    All efforts to hobble, nobble Mercedes FAILED.
    Solution?
    Other Teams get your acts together.
    Stop wasting time & effort whining, complaining, bleating.
    CATCH UP END OF.

  22. Car number for tomorrow grid: 44 77 55 11 33

  23. It’s almost painful to see how many people thought that taking away engine modes would change anything.
    Merc have had the best all-round chassis for several years – they could use the engine differently solely because their chassis performance is better. That has been their biggest advantage for the last 4 or 5 years.

    I, for one, am not at all surprised that nothing significant has changed.
    What were you lot expecting, anyway?

  24. Don’t know why so many are cheering. It’s not doing F1 any great favour to have one team so vastly ahead in technology. Yes RB did lobby to remove an obvious cause of superiority, the quality mode, but Merc clearly have other secret weapons in their armoury, which may never come to light.

    And our friends the Scuderia are just about ready now for a dose of weedkiller. VET right at the back, hob nobbing with GIO and the Williams pair. Maladetto Scussi!! Va Pensiero!! Sollali dorati!!

    1. Well…I’m cheering because RB, Ferrari and the FIA have a big splat of egg on their proverbial faces. That’s just me though.

    2. but Merc clearly have other secret weapons in their armoury, which may never come to light.

      Better engineering, better team atmosphere & management and concentrating on doing their best not what others are doing.

  25. Btw are teams free to come up with different engine modes for every race as the only one to be used? As i percieve they can use different ones per weekend, but do they have to “homologate” (or in other words get it verified by some technical board or comittee) the new modes somehow they wanna use from now? Or there is already some framework that allows them to plug in the new mode and prove its compliance with the rules super easily?

    The 0.8s gap to Sainz is huge. Although it’s a very specific and power track, so as teams will get experience how to create that one and only engine mode to be used it might slightly get closer. But I don’t expect too much challenge for Mercedes on the engine side in the close future, and their race pace might even be improved by this rule change. Actually in 2018 the pole was 1:19.1 and in 2019 1:19.3 so the improvement seems still significant.

    1. It looks promising to the Renaults they are not far from Sainz. I think if the teams are free to come up different modes per weekend it might change, as it’s just the first time for them to see what the opponents have came up with, so for example there is no reason to expect that RB will struggle against midfield from now.

    2. Jockey Ewing, yes, it has been confirmed that the teams can adjust the parameters of the modes from circuit to circuit to account for differences in circuit layout, engine wear, fuel mixtures, ambient conditions and so forth.

      1. So huge expenses for engine builders to spend thousands of hours dyno testing the optimal modes and wear on engines. Great move before further cost cutting is introduced.

  26. Wake me up when Hamilton retires.

  27. I am glad we have seen the last of party mode. I don’t think any reasonable person would have expected Mercedes to be any slower as a result of this new directive. I am looking forward to find out how the race is going to end up tomorrow. F1 needs even more change.

    1. Yes…if you can’t beat em…nobble em! Great philosophy for the pinnacle of motor racing.

    2. @aliced in some of the posts you have written in support of the rule change, part of the reason you supported it was in the hope it would remove Mercedes’s qualifying advantage. Since you did seem to expect it would slow Mercedes down in previous posts, are you therefore publicly calling yourself an unreasonable person with this subsequent post?

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