Norris on pole in the Italian Grand Prix 2024, Verstappen in seventh

Norris on pole in the Italian Grand Prix, Verstappen in seventh

 

In the Italian Grand Prix qualifying, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri guided McLaren to a one-two finish, with Red Bull, the title contender, finishing ninth.

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Verstappen’s challenging session and Norris’ second consecutive pole—his fifth of the year—were just what the British driver needed to get closer to the Dutchman by 70 points in the championship.

George Russell finished third for Mercedes, ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton and the Ferraris driven by Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.

In a futile attempt to jump up the grid, Red Bull had Sergio Perez forfeit his last lap to give Verstappen a tow on the run down to Parabolica.

However, it only managed to move Verstappen ahead of Perez, leaving the Mercedes, McLaren, and Ferraris out of reach for the world champions, who now face the possibility of losing ground to their rivals in the constructors’ championship battle. It seems that the world champions have lost their way with their once-dominant car.

Perez ruined his own lap at the second Lesmo circuit before aiding Verstappen, even though he had been faster than Verstappen on his first lap in the final qualifying round.

In the top-10 shootout, Norris edged out Piastri by just 0.035 seconds on his first lap. Although he was not satisfied with his lap, Norris was able to improve on it on his second try. Norris took the top spot by 0.109 seconds.

It’s a little unexpected, but great, to have a first and second when the field is as tight as it has been all weekend, Norris stated.

I hate to tell it, but my lap wasn’t very good. It was the first one I had. But still extremely satisfied and well enough for pole.

I do not expect this to be an easy race because there are a lot of fast drivers in fast cars behind. Lots of uncertainties but also a lot of anticipation, I’m sure.

Russell commented, “A little bit better than I expected,” despite being 0.113 seconds off the pole. It was a very difficult session. I’m thrilled with third place since I’m not too far behind the McLarens, who are now quite fast.

“I think it’s going to be a tight battle, everyone is so close out there, so exciting for F1, everyone’s been waiting for this.”

For the duration of the session, Verstappen lamented his lack of grip, calling his vehicle “shocking” at one point. Trying to restrict the damage that could do during the race is going to be difficult for him.

Because he only had 30 minutes of running in the second practice session due to Mercedes 2025 driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s car collision in the first, Russell’s performance was all the more remarkable.

It was “a very up and down weekend,” according to Russell. “I was behind schedule yesterday, as I missed a lot of things. Q1 and Q2 were untidy, and I didn’t feel well in the car.” but was able to capture it in the ideal moment in Q3. I’m rather happy with the outcome, and I find it thrilling how close it was.”

Hamilton, Leclerc, and Verstappen are irritated

 

 

Although he was only 0.134 seconds behind the lead, Leclerc expressed his disappointment at being as low as fourth in the standings after Ferrari had looked fast throughout practice.

Verstappen’s emotions, however, were far more intense than that.

The three-time winner finished 0.695 seconds off the pole in the third session, leaving him puzzled as to what had happened. He had been second fastest behind Hamilton in the second session.

“Q3 was very bad on both of my tyre sets,” Verstappen stated. I had just developed severe understeer, making it impossible for me to attack any more turns.

“You lose a lot of lap time when you have to back it out a lot in the middle of a corner.

In Q2, things weren’t as bad. At that point, I ran a 1:19.6, and we were practically the fastest.

“Although we are aware of our shortcomings and issues, I believe we had things reasonably under control at that moment. However, the equilibrium was completely gone when I entered Q3, and I’m not exactly sure how that happened.”

Despite being three places behind Russell, Hamilton was only 0.073 seconds slower than the latter, and his problems with qualifying this season remained. Hamilton was left berating himself.

“I’m just not very good, simple as that,” he replied. “To put it simply, I struggle with qualifying. I find it really annoying that I am unable to put a lap together. All I can do is continue to work at it.”

Nico Hulkenberg of Haas and Alex Albon of Williams completed the top 10 after Perez. In the second qualifying round, Hulkenberg eliminated Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin with a just 0.01 seconds difference.