Lewis Hamilton continues to panic the statistics and signs his 94th Formula 1 pole of his career at Monza Circuit. The Briton beat teammate Valtteri Bottas by just 0.069s. The two Mercedes are ahead of the McLaren of Spaniard Carlos Sainz and Racing Point of Mexican Sergio Perez who will make up the second row on the grid.
“It was not the easiest. You saw how close it was and it really demanded a clean lap. You saw how close it was between us all. And it really demanded a clean lap. I think I did that on both, so I’m generally really happy.
“Valtteri was very close and pushing. I made some big changes going into qualifying and I was little nervous but it worked out just fine.” Hamilton added.
For the first time, the F1 teams were no longer allowed in Monza to use the “party mode”, which increases the engine power for a short period of time. That didn’t stop Mercedes cars from proving that they were still very far ahead of their rivals.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was eliminated in the first session, while his teammate Charles Leclerc in the second session. This is the worst result for Ferrari at Monza since 1969 as Scuderia is due to celebrate the 1000th Grand Prix in its history next week at the Mugello circuit.
“What a mess!” Sebastian Vettel said after his elimination, believing that the pilots had hampered each other by trying to benefit from the suction to gain top speed.
“There was no point to start overtaking each other in the out lap. It’s the minimum time, so everybody is making it. But the moment you start overtaking it’s causing trouble.” Vettel added.
The start of the Italian Grand Prix, the eighth meeting of the season, will be given on Sunday at 3.10 p.m.
