Italian GP – Qualifications: Hamilton Continues His Fantastic Streak but Ferrari Is on the Prowl!

After a final free practice session with a close leaderboard at the top, the 20 drivers gather for a high-speed Qualifying session. The “Temple of Speed” lives up to its name: we are indeed expecting fast laps at an average speed of over 245 km/h, possibly close to 250 km/h for the future pole-sitter!

The excitement is building and the stands are filling up: red is, of course, in fashion! The performances of the two Ferraris will be watched closely.

If we look at the Lombard sky, we notice that the much-forecasted rain will not be part of the afternoon: the sun is shining. 34 degrees on the track against 21 degrees in the air.

It is 2 PM in Italy and the Qualifying for the twelfth Grand Prix of the season is starting: here we go for Q1!

The scene is set at #Monza, with the race for pole position just moments away #ItalianGP pic.twitter.com/tyHnT9Q6JO

— Formula 1 (@F1) 5 Septembre 2015

Will Stevens in his Manor is the first driver to take to the track. Not all drivers will be out: Max Verstappen has to change his gearbox. At McLaren, Eric Boullier specified that Fernando Alonso suffered an oil leak on his car during the lunch break. However, the double World Champion manages to leave his garage.

The first real benchmark time is set by Lewis Hamilton, at 1:24.251, on hard tires. Less than 8 minutes remain, and the battle to get through to Q2 isn’t very intense at the moment: Ricciardo and Verstappen haven’t set times, putting them in the danger zone along with Button and the Manor cars of Stevens and Merhi. Only Jenson Button might be able to get out of this predicament.

At Force India, Nico Hülkenberg doesn’t seem to be in danger for the time. Nevertheless, the German encounters traffic, including his former car, the Sauber of Marcus Ericsson. He openly complains on the radio to his engineer, and the Swede is placed under investigation.

“Met some traffic [on flying lap] with the Sauber,” says an annoyed Hülkenberg. “What’s he doing?!?” #ItalianGP pic.twitter.com/IUO9KJ8p3t

— Formula 1 (@F1) 5 Septembre 2015

Relief at Red Bull: Daniel Ricciardo finally manages to get out. However, there are less than 2 minutes remaining to complete a timed lap, allowing only one attempt. Can he escape the danger zone? He succeeds and makes it: with a time of 1:25.633, he is through to Q2. The Australian had a close call: a yellow flag was waved just at the end of the session due to the explosion of Max Verstappen’s engine cover, which resulted in only a difficult installation lap for him. Both McLaren-Honda cars are eventually eliminated, with Jenson Button ahead of Fernando Alonso, just like at Spa-Francorchamps.

Hamilton, Rosberg, and Räikkönen make up the Top 3 of this Q1.

No time set for @Max33Verstappen and chunks of his car left on track – not a great Q1 for the teenager #ItalianGP pic.twitter.com/uAeUOu9Sm9

— Formula 1 (@F1) 5 Septembre 2015

Eliminated in Q1:

Button, Alonso, Stevens, Merhi, Verstappen.

After a 10-minute break, it’s back on, **Q2 begins!** Mercedes is surprisingly eager: Hamilton and Rosberg are, along with Bottas, the first drivers to head out. All drivers are on soft tires. In the first run, Hamilton crushes the competition: Nico Rosberg is more than 7 tenths behind! Is the German really struggling, or is he on another, more progressive, qualifying strategy?

Daniel Ricciardo, on the other hand, is far from the battle for Pole: the Australian has gotten out of the car, he will not participate in Q2.

GREEN LIGHT: Drivers out for Q2 with @danielricciardo safely through #Quali #ItalianGP #ForzaF1 pic.twitter.com/eJSqoHLoja

— Formula 1 (@F1) 5 Septembre 2015

At the end of the first runs, 5 minutes before the end of this Q2, the Top 10 is as follows: Hamilton, Räikkönen, Vettel, Rosberg, Massa, Bottas, Hülkenberg, Pérez, Maldonado, Ericsson.

Kimi Räikkönen is therefore a good second at this moment: the Finn may have found the right settings this afternoon. Will he be able to beat Sebastian Vettel?

CROWD PLEASER: Räikkönen goes second ahead of team-mate Vettel to lift fans #Quali #ItalianGP pic.twitter.com/3JT9bLAjJg

— Formula 1 (@F1) 5 Septembre 2015

For the record, Vettel was only outpaced twice by “Iceman” in Qualifications (in Canada, due to a technical issue, and in Great Britain, this time on pure performance).

In any case, Vettel returns to the track for a final attempt in this Q2. 9 other drivers are on the track, except for Hamilton and Räikkönen.

On the side of the French supporters, there’s a watchful eye on Romain Grosjean’s improvement. It is necessary to qualify for Q3. The Lotus driver does the job and climbs into the Top 10. His teammate doesn’t have the same success, Pastor Maldonado finishes in 11th place, resulting in elimination for the Venezuelan, once again beaten internally. A great performance from Marcus Ericsson in his Sauber-Ferrari: he will be the 3rd representative powered by Ferrari, while the other 7 are powered by Mercedes.

Eliminated in Q2:

Maldonado, Nasr, Sainz, Kyvat, Ricciardo.

Here we are at the decisive hour in the battle for Pole Position! Will Lewis Hamilton be able to add Monza to his ongoing streak? At Ferrari, in any case, they hope that Vettel and Räikkönen will deliver the perfect lap!

Heart beating faster, let’s go for Q3! Go go go, fatevi sentire! #ForzaFerrari #ItalianGP #redseason 🇮🇹

— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) 5 Septembre 2015

The drivers are off for their first timed lap! Nico Hülkenberg sets the very first time at 1:25.317. Lewis Hamilton secures a good lap: 1:23.397! He currently leads Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen. The two Ferraris are 0.3 seconds off the Pole. Felipe Massa is 4th, ahead of Nico Rosberg, a surprising 5th. Let’s recall that Rosberg is not using the new engine brought by Mercedes due to an issue detected this morning in Free Practice 3. However, he will not incur any penalty, as the change was made using an old engine.

8 drivers set a time: Sergio Pérez and Marcus Ericsson stayed in the pits. Nico Hülkenberg sees his momentum interrupted by a failure on his Force India, but he manages to return after setting a time. Romain Grosjean meanwhile holds the last provisional time in this Q3. The replay shows some uncontrolled slides from the Frenchman. Improvements will be needed for the final salvo of timed laps.

This salvo is launched by Marcus Ericsson. Here we go for the conclusion of this Qualifying session!

Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen take all the risks! And it’s Räikkönen who comes out on top, he pushes Vettel off the front row! Nico Rosberg fails to reach their level: he only finishes 4th in this session.

Lewis Hamilton is therefore in Pole Position for this 2015 Italian Grand Prix. 49th Pole Position of his career and the 7th consecutive since Monaco in May.

IT’S #ITALIANGP POLE FOR @LEWISHAMILTON!!!! Closer than close but he’s done it!! #F1 #Monza #Quali pic.twitter.com/qlCYIIWPKH

— MERCEDES AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) 5 Septembre 2015

The Englishman acknowledged in his first post-session words, however, that his lap was not ideal… The two-tenths gap with Räikkönen indeed attests to that. Behind the top 4, there is the dominance of Williams over Force India and Lotus, in terms of the competition between Mercedes customer teams.

Here is the full ranking from this qualifying session:

(It does not take into account the application of the various penalties)