Bottas pips Hamilton to pole for Monza F1 sprint race
The Finn edged out Hamilton by just 0.096s in a dramatic conclusion to Friday evening’s qualifying session which set the grid for F1’s second-ever sprint race at Monza.
Hamilton had led the way after the opening runs of Q3 but a sensational final effort from Bottas saw him usurp his teammate and grab pole position for Saturday’s sprint.
Bottas, who will leave Mercedes at the end of the year to join Alfa Romeo, has taken on a new power unit for this weekend’s race and will subsequently start from the back of the grid for Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix.
But first, he will lead the field away at the start of the sprint race.
Championship leader Max Verstappen was towed to third place by Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez as he ended up four-tenths down on the Mercedes pair.
Verstappen did well to salvage third on the grid after Red Bull had struggled for pace throughout qualifying as he narrowly outpaced the McLaren duo.
Lando Norris ended up just 0.023s adrift of Verstappen in fourth, while McLaren teammate Daniel Ricciardo got within 0.029s of the Dutchman’s time as the team enjoyed a strong qualifying performance.
2020 Italian Grand Prix winner Pierre Gasly continued his streak of top-six finishes in qualifying for AlphaTauri as he beat the Ferrari duo of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, who battled an engine issue throughout.
After being effectively sacrificed to provide Verstappen a tow, Perez could only take ninth ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi, who made it into Q3 for the second week running.
The Aston Martin pair of Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll were both knocked out in Q2 in 11th and 12th, ahead of the Alpine duo of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon.
Mercedes-bound George Russell was 15th fastest in his Williams during his latest Q2 appearance.
Nicholas Latifi was 16th for Williams, while Yuki Tsunoda suffered his latest Q1 elimination after having his fastest lap time deleted for a track limits infringement, dropping the AlphaTauri rookie to 17th.
An impressive lap from Mick Schumacher saw the German out-qualify Robert Kubica’s Alfa Romeo by two-tenths as he put his Haas 18th with a late improvement.
Teammate Nikita Mazepin was slowest of all and will start Saturday’s sprint race from the very back of the grid in P20.
Full qualifying results at the 2021 F1 Italian Grand Prix.
