Official F1 Journal Formula 1 Saturday Round Up - Italian Grand Prix

31/8/2024

It's a McLaren front row lockout for the Italian Grand Prix, with Lando Norris taking pole and Oscar Piastri in P2.

In a day which started with the announcement of Andrea Kimi Antonelli as the second Mercedes driver for the 2025 season and beyond, finished with another pole position for Lando Norris. He is closely followed behind by Oscar Piastri, George Russell and Charles Leclerc rounds out the top four.

Red Bull suffered with a terrible qualifying session with Max Verstappen qualifying in P7 and Sergio Perez in P8 - will this be the weekend McLaren overtake Red Bull in the Constructors Championships?

Free Practice Three

Top 10 Results
1) Lewis Hamilton 1:20.117
2) George Russell +0.093
3) Charles Leclerc +0.109
4) Oscar Piastri +0.135
5) Lando Norris +0.145
6) Max Verstappen +0.251
7) Carlos Sainz +0.346
8) Alex Albon +0.479
9) Franco Colapinto +0.788
10) Nico Hulkenberg +0.826

It was a Mercedes lock out in Free Practice Three with Lewis Hamilton taking the top spot followed by his teammate.

Several drivers opted for hard tyre runs after RB was the only team to do hard tyre runs in the previous two practice sessions. Track evolution was big during the session with early lap times tumbling and Charles Leclerc topped the leaderboard.

Leclerc, Piastri and Riccardo were all noted for impeding.

Qualifying

Q1

Out In Q1
16) Yuki Tsunoda
17) Lance Stroll
18) Franco Colapinto
19) Valtteri Bottas
20) Zhou Guanyu

Norris set the pace early in Q1 topping the leaderboard going over a tenth clear of Leclerc with Sainz in third. Perez was the biggest driver risk sitting in P19 leading up to the end of the session, but pitted for a fresh set of new tyres and went back out onto the track getting himself into P9.

Piastri was noted for an unsafe release on Verstappen and got fined 10,000 EUR. Colapinto managed P18 in his first qualifying session in F1.

Q2

Out in Q2
11) Fernando Alonso
12) Daniel Riccardo
13) Kevin Magnussen
14) Pierre Gasly
15) Esteban Ocon

Hamilton lead the way in Q2, after a slight delay due to gravel on the track. Sainz was the first on track in the session.

Norris topped the leaderboard ahead of Piastri by eight hundredths of a lap, with Verstappen in third place.

Alonso was the car in danger in P11 but he missed Q3 by one hundredth of a second.

Q3

Starting Top 10
1) Lando Norris 1:19.237
2) Oscar Piastri
3) George Russell
4) Charles Leclerc
5) Carlos Sainz
6) Lewis Hamilton
7) Max Verstappen
8) Sergio Perez
9) Alex Albon
10) Nico Hulkenberg

Albon was first out on track with tows being made by teammates. Norris took provisional pole with a 1:19.401 with Piastri just 0.035 behind him in the early stages.

Verstappen found himself behind Perez for his flying lap but suffered a big snap, Perez also went wide.

Another pole, which is amazing," said pole-sitter Norris. "Like Oscar said, to have the cars first and second when the field has been as tight as it has all weekend, it’s a little bit of a surprise, but a nice one. A big well done to the team as they’ve done an amazing job.
"Honestly, my lap… It hurts me to say, it was not a great lap. My Q1 run one was, but run two [there] was a little bit more and we’re still good enough for pole. So, a little bit surprised again, but very, very happy."

Anny Wooldridge
Writer at F1 Journal

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