Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Leclerc’s best time of a 1’20.161 was enough to see him end the session quickest ahead of the Red Bull driver, who will start from fourth on the grid after a penalty. George Russell will start second on the grid, with Lando Norris behind him in third.
Q1
Lance Stroll was the most eager driver to head out onto the circuit when the first phase of qualifying began. He set the first time of the hour with a 1’24.231. That was immediately beaten by Yuki Tsunoda, before the front running teams headed out for their first runs.Sergio Perez went fastest of all on his first effort, before Max Verstappen went less than a tenth of a second faster to go quickest. However, the two Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jnr gave the Tifosi reason to cheer by beating the Red Bulls with their first lap times, Leclerc’s 1’21.280 setting a new benchmark, seven tenths faster than Verstappen, while Sainz moved into second.
George Russell jumped into third place in the Mercedes, half a second off the Ferraris, before Perez improved to take third. It was then Verstappen’s turn to improve and the championship leader broke into the 1’20s for the first time, comfortably putting himself on top of the times.
As the track fell quiet, the drop zone featured Kevin Magnussen, Valtteri Bottas, Lance Stroll, Mick Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel. The two Haas drivers took to the track and while Schumacher failed to improve, Magnussen appeared to move into safety before his lap time was deleted for exceeding track limits at the second Lesmo.
Bottas improved to move into safety, but Vettel could not go fast enough to do the same in the Aston Martin. Bottas knocked Nicholas Latifi into the drop zone in 16th, but the newcomer in the other Williams was impressing. In his first qualifying session, Nyck de Vries appeared to be safe in 14th, but lost his final lap for track limits at Ascari. However, he was still fast enough to squeeze through into Q2 in 15th, knocking his more experienced team mate out.
Joining Latifi out of Q1 were the two Aston Martins of Vettel and Stroll, along with the two Haas of Magnussen and Schumacher, after Magnussen had both of his final laps deleted for exceeding track limits at the second Lesmo.
Q1 result
| Position | Number | Driver | Team | Model | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | RB18 | 1’20.922 | 6 | |
| 2 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | F1-75 | 1’21.280 | 0.358 | 3 |
| 3 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | F1-75 | 1’21.348 | 0.426 | 3 |
| 4 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | RB18 | 1’21.495 | 0.573 | 6 |
| 5 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | W13 | 1’21.785 | 0.863 | 6 |
| 6 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | C42 | 1’22.003 | 1.081 | 6 |
| 7 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Red Bull | AT03 | 1’22.010 | 1.088 | 6 |
| 8 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Red Bull | AT03 | 1’22.020 | 1.098 | 6 |
| 9 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | W13 | 1’22.048 | 1.126 | 6 |
| 10 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine-Renault | A522 | 1’22.089 | 1.167 | 6 |
| 11 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL36 | 1’22.130 | 1.208 | 7 |
| 12 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL36 | 1’22.139 | 1.217 | 8 |
| 13 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | A522 | 1’22.166 | 1.244 | 6 |
| 14 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | C42 | 1’22.254 | 1.332 | 6 |
| 15 | 45 | Nyck de Vries | Williams-Mercedes | FW44 | 1’22.567 | 1.645 | 8 |
| 16 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | FW44 | 1’22.587 | 1.665 | 7 |
| 17 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin-Mercedes | AMR22 | 1’22.636 | 1.714 | 7 |
| 18 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | AMR22 | 1’22.748 | 1.826 | 9 |
| 19 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | VF-22 | 1’22.908 | 1.986 | 10 |
| 20 | 47 | Mick Schumacher | Haas-Ferrari | VF-22 | 1’23.005 | 2.083 | 9 |
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Q2
No one was in a hurry to head out onto the high-speed Monza circuit as the green light came on at the end of the pit lane to signal the start of the second phase of qualifying. After several minutes without action, the field began to head out onto the circuit for their first times.
Once again, Perez was the first Red Bull driver over the line. He put in a 1’21.358, which again was eclipsed by Verstappen moments later by just under a tenth of a second. Sainz then raised cheers around the circuit when he pumped in a 1’20.878, the quickest time of the weekend so far.
Leclerc’s first attempt at a hot lap was aborted when he made a mistake under braking for the Rettifilo chicane and ran off over the escape road. After resetting his car, Leclerc put in a clean lap to second, just over three tenths behind his Ferrari team mate.
Once the Ferrari driver had returned to the pit lane, the track fell silent once more. The drivers at risk of elimination with four minutes remaining were Bottas, De Vries, Zhou Guanyu, Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda, who was the only driver yet to set a time in the second session. Lando Norris sat on the bubble in tenth, but held a two-tenth buffer in safety.
Eventually cars began streaming out of the pits for the final minutes. De Vries put in a strong first sector and was two tenths up on tenth place, but a mistake under braking for the Roggia chicane ruined his lap and guaranteed his elimination.
Both Alfa Romeos failed to improve to get out of the drop zone and were eliminated. Norris went faster and moved out of the bubble in seventh where he was then joined by team mate Ricciardo who jumped into safety in eighth. That meant Esteban Ocon fell into 11th place and the Alpine driver could not improve by enough to get through to Q3, ending his session.
Also out with Ocon were Bottas, De Vries, Zhou and Tsunoda, who did not set a lap time in Q2 as he was already guaranteed to start from the rear of the field.
Q2 result
| Position | Number | Driver | Team | Model | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | F1-75 | 1’20.878 | 6 | |
| 2 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | F1-75 | 1’21.208 | 0.330 | 7 |
| 3 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | RB18 | 1’21.265 | 0.387 | 9 |
| 4 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | RB18 | 1’21.358 | 0.480 | 9 |
| 5 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | W13 | 1’21.708 | 0.830 | 11 |
| 6 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | W13 | 1’21.747 | 0.869 | 12 |
| 7 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL36 | 1’21.831 | 0.953 | 13 |
| 8 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL36 | 1’21.855 | 0.977 | 14 |
| 9 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine-Renault | A522 | 1’21.861 | 0.983 | 12 |
| 10 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Red Bull | AT03 | 1’22.062 | 1.184 | 12 |
| 11 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | A522 | 1’22.130 | 1.252 | 12 |
| 12 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | C42 | 1’22.235 | 1.357 | 12 |
| 13 | 45 | Nyck de Vries | Williams-Mercedes | FW44 | 1’22.471 | 1.593 | 13 |
| 14 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | C42 | 1’22.577 | 1.699 | 12 |
| 15 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Red Bull | AT03 | No time | 6 |
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Q3
For the third session, the top 10 drivers again took their time before heading out onto the circuit. When all ten cars eventually did take to the track, the two Mercedes of Hamilton and Russell hung back to sit at the rear of the queue, behind Verstappen’s Red Bull who was in line behind the two Ferraris of Leclerc and Sainz.
Perez’s first lap of a 1’21.359 saw him initially take provisional pole, before that was immediately beaten by Leclerc before Sainz took advantage of his team mate ahead to move to the top of the times with a 1’20.584. Verstappen’s first lap was not better than the Ferraris, moving into third place before admitting over team radio that his first sector had been poor.
Russell was fifth after his first run, six-tenths of a second ahead of Lando Norris’s McLaren, with Hamilton behind them both in seventh. For the final run, Russell opted to take used tyres, the only driver to do so.
For the final runs, Sainz did not offer his team mate a tow as the two Ferraris were split by Norris’s McLaren. Perez could not trouble the leaders with his final lap, meaning the battle for first in qualifying would be between the two Ferraris and Verstappen.
Sainz was the first over the line and improved his own provisional pole time by 0.155s, challenging his team mate to improve on itLeclerc promptly did so, beating Sainz’s time by a quarter of a second with a 1’20.161.
Only Verstappen was capable of beating the Ferrari driver to the fastest time, but he had to settle for second with his final lap, just under a tenth-and-a-half slower than Leclerc. That secured that Leclerc was on pole position with the fastest time in qualifying, ahead of Verstappen, Sainz and Perez.
However, the latter three drivers will all have penalties applied, meaning that George Russell will start on the front row alongside Leclerc after finishing qualifying in fifth. Lando Norris will start third on the grid after qualifying seventh, with McLaren team mate Ricciardo ending qualifying in eighth. Pierre Gasly ended qualifying ninth fastest, with Alonso in tenth with his one and only lap time deleted for exceeding track limits at the second Lesmo.
Q3 result
| Position | Number | Driver | Team | Model | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | F1-75 | 1’20.161 | 13 | |
| 6 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | W13 | 1’21.542 | 1.381 | 17 |
| 7 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | RB18 | 1’20.306 | 0.145 | 15 |
| 8 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL36 | 1’21.925 | 1.764 | 20 |
| 9 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Red Bull | AT03 | 1’22.648 | 2.487 | 18 |
| 10 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine-Renault | A522 | No time | 17 |
Become a RaceFans Supporter
RaceFans is run thanks in part to the generous support of its readers. By contributing £1 per month or £12 per year (or the same in whichever currency you use) you can help cover the costs of creating, hosting and developing RaceFans today and in the future.
Become a RaceFans Supporter today and browse the site ad-free. Sign up or find out more via the links below:
2022 Italian Grand Prix
- Helmet rows, hot mics and more forgotten motorsport stories from 2022
- McLaren ‘surprised two teams found more performance than everyone else’ in 2022
- Alpine confident for Singapore and Suzuka races after “massive” floor upgrade
- Red Bull’s RB18 suits Verstappen more than Perez now – but that’s not by design
- “We’ll have four racing laps’: How F1’s Safety Car confusion unfolded at Monza
Jere (@jerejj)
10th September 2022, 16:17
Unsurprisingly, De Vries out-qualified Latifi in his first competitive session, even with losing his latter flying lap in Q1.
Kribana (@krichelle)
10th September 2022, 16:21
Leclerc is facing Russell and the two Mclarens for the first four positions. Ferrari do not need to panick at the start as if they lose position to Russell, he should not be that hard to overtake. Or is the Mercedes going to turn up like magic tomorrow like at SPA and be at par with Ferrari? Mercedes have traditionally done better at Monza than at SPA.
Kribana (@krichelle)
10th September 2022, 16:22
Ok… that is a fail… not meant as a reply
José Lopes da Silva
10th September 2022, 18:33
The real fail is that the sport has had to count on Latifi for all these years.
Although it is useful for us to watch clearly that the human factor still counts a lot in F1.
ttongsul (@ccpbioweapon)
10th September 2022, 18:23
@jerejj Its hard to judge if Nyck de Vries is fast because its already a given that latifi is awful and he will forever be remembered for crashing on his own at AD 2021 and starting the farcical chain of events that followed..
I wish Williams especially under new ownership post Frank would STOP chasing money offering seats to the highest bidder regardless of talent and become a more serious team.
They need to boot latifi at the end of the season regardless of the tens of millions USD a season he brings because why spend hundred million developing a decent points scoring car when a driver finishes near the back and causes the team to finish lower in constructors and lose valuable prize money which outweighs the advantage of the money he brings to the team anyway!
I hope they hire a driver with actual talent in 2022 to replace him, there are pay drivers with talent like F2 champion Felipe Drugovich who brings big Brazilian backing and would be fighting for points so it looks like a no brainer to put him in the car.
Kribana (@krichelle)
10th September 2022, 16:23
Leclerc is facing Russell and the two Mclarens for the first four positions. Ferrari do not need to panick at the start as if they lose position to Russell, he should not be that hard to overtake. Or is the Mercedes going to turn up like magic tomorrow like at SPA and be at par with Ferrari? Mercedes have traditionally done better at Monza than at SPA.
petebaldwin (@)
10th September 2022, 16:39
I’m not sure that’s right. Crofty just said he thinks Max will be starting 4th….
Gizzlina
10th September 2022, 16:45
Verstappen on P4 behind Leclerc, Russell and Norris indeed
jff
10th September 2022, 16:57
Somebody should explain how those penalties impacts are calculated.
I would expect for Verstappen also in 4th:
– qualified 2nd
– initial starting position 7th (2+5), just behind the 7th qualifier (Norris) and ahead of the 8th (Ricciardo)
– thus with Sainz, Perez, Hamilton moving out as well (and further backwards) I’d say: Leclerc, Russell, Norris, Verstappen, Ricciardo.
But of course if the penalties of Hamilton etc are ‘executed’ first, then it could be further back.
AlanD
10th September 2022, 19:50
JFF, it definitely matters which order penalties are applied. I think LH’s penalty is applied first. I think it was Spa how MV was going to start last due to engine penalties but other driver penalties brought him up to 14.
Jack
10th September 2022, 17:55
Leclerc exceeded track limits in Q1, and no one noticed, Red Bull better report it to the stewards to get Max up 1 place and to make sure leclerc doesn’t start at the front
MG1982 (@mg1982)
10th September 2022, 16:34
Oh boy, I’ve seen snails faster than Mercedes…..
HJ
10th September 2022, 16:42
Very fast snails ;-p
MichaelN
10th September 2022, 16:48
They are comfortably the third fastest team, much better than seven others. Yes, there is a gap to pole – but all Russell could do to improve his pretty much guaranteed 2nd starting place was to beat Leclerc. Which was never going to happen here. I suppose they left it a bit close with Norris, but overall the expected result for Mercedes. Seems normal this season that they’ll be better tomorrow, so it’ll be interesting to see if Verstappen is right about the higher downforce setup being better for the tyres in the race. He’s probably still the favourite for the win, but if Russell can be competitive he could end up being a bit of a roadblock to Verstappen (he probably won’t).
Sviat
10th September 2022, 16:35
Looks like qualification is not for Alonso anymore.
Hungary – lost to Ocon.
SPA – lost to Ocon despite being given the tow. Nowhere near Ocon pace-wise.
Netherlands – lost to Ocon because lost concentration on his best lap.
Monza – had a terrible Q3. He should have completed his first attempt at least, even with the mistake on the second sector he could have been higher than Gasly and Ricciardo. I hope for top-5 with some good chances of finishing in top 6.
PS: I don’t understand why his best lap deleted. I watched that lap – it was okay. Everyone goes really wide in turn 7. So I don’t get it.
Sviat
10th September 2022, 16:37
Correction: I hoped* for top-5 start with good chances of finishing in top 6 in the race.
David BR (@david-br)
10th September 2022, 16:46
Impressive from de Vries. The top 6 finished in their default 2022 order, either Leclerc or Verstappen in P1, depending on which car is fastest, followed by their respective team mates in 3 and 4. Mercedes (Hamilton then Russell) separate in 5 and 6. Then the McLarens. And then the Alpines with Gasly breaking up the team ordering. The race should be a lot more interesting though with Leclerc, Russell and Russell at the front and the rest of the top team drivers having to start further back. Ferrari need this win to show they’re viable as a team going into 2023. Plus, it’s Monza.
playstation361
10th September 2022, 16:46
We should wait and see if Ferrari wins the Race.
LosD (@losd)
10th September 2022, 18:35
Thank you, Captain Obvious
playstation361
11th September 2022, 0:07
I think Ferrari is definitely trying hard.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
10th September 2022, 17:31
Has a grid emerged yet? Or will it be published after the race?
Gabriel (@naylamp)
10th September 2022, 17:55
Hopefully before Singapore.
ttongsul (@ccpbioweapon)
10th September 2022, 18:32
@bullfrog welcome to clown world of the FIA where the grid will be known minutes before lights out.
Anyway if you are at the back (or close to) like Lewis It would make sense to start from the pits as you don’t lose much time starting from the pits here and you would avoid the lap 1 carnage whilst benefiting from making ‘free’ changes from the car.
theRealMax (@millionus)
10th September 2022, 18:07
Soooo…what are the grid starting positions..?
Charlew
10th September 2022, 18:51
It is ridiculous.. What are we watching when no one can tell what rules we have to follow when half of the grid sees an opportunity to collect penalties so they can win from it.. Something s not right.. Better to give grid penalties after the race..
Riker (@corsair)
10th September 2022, 20:49
Good to see Ricciardo in Q3.
Really hope that his final few races with McLaren are good.
Sad that he may not have a drive for 2023 but at least he could have a good end for 2022.