Italy – Qualifications: Kimi Räikkönen sets the fastest lap in F1 history

The preparation of the drivers was not ideal as it was disrupted by the rain. Besides, the weather was still not ideal during the qualifying session as a light rain showered the track just moments before the session. This is why the drivers did not rush onto the track, allowing it to dry completely.

In order to partly make up for the delay in gathering information on tire degradation, the Ferrari and Mercedes drivers were seen doing several fast laps with the super soft tires. In the end, the Silver Arrows found themselves nearly three-tenths behind the benchmark set by Sebastian Vettel.

Daniel Ricciardo, relegated to the back of the grid due to penalties related to a power unit change, waited until the last five minutes of the session to set his first time. It was excellent as he slipped between the two Mercedes, in fourth position.

But in the fight to avoid elimination, Nico Hülkenberg managed to save himself at the last moment. The battle was extremely close as Sergio Perez was eliminated by just a tiny thousandth compared to Romain Grosjean. The Racing Point Sahara Force India team made a big mistake by not sending him back on track for one last stint. Another loser in this qualifying session is Charles Leclerc, who also failed by a thousandth of a second behind Sergio Perez.

24 hours after his impressive accident, Marcus Ericsson was not able to save himself either, finishing in 19th position between Brendon Hartley and Stoffel Vandoorne, whose difficulties continue.

The Q1 eliminations are therefore: Perez, Leclerc, Hartley, Ericsson, and Vandoorne.

If the drivers then took to the track for a first practice run at the start of Q2, Nico Hülkenberg (penalized ten places for the crash at the start of Spa-Francorchamps), Daniel Ricciardo, and the two Williams decided to risk everything on a single attempt at the very end of the session.

In the last minute, we were able to see all 15 cars take to the track, which inevitably caused a traffic jam at the end of the straight. A duel ensued between Fernando Alonso and Kevin Magnussen: the Dane attempted to overtake at the first chicane, but the Spaniard had none of it and resisted. This effectively ruined the lap for both drivers, who were eliminated in this phase.

On the contrary, Pierre Gasly was able to deliver a strong performance, slipping into tenth place, two thousandths ahead of Kevin Magnussen’s Haas.

The other notable performance of this session is credited to Lance Stroll, who made it to Q3 again, a year after being able to start from the second position on the grid.

The eliminated are therefore: Magnussen, Sirotkin, Alonso, Hülkenberg, and Ricciardo.

The first round in Q3 was simply exceptional as the track record was broken three times in a row by Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Räikkönen, and finally Lewis Hamilton.

During the last attack, the Mercedes were ahead of the Ferraris. While Lewis Hamilton was able to improve further, it was ultimately Kimi Räikkönen who managed to set the fastest final time, securing his first pole position of the year. It is the fastest lap in F1 history, at an average speed of over 263 km/h! This erases the previous record set by Juan-Pablo Montoya, which dated back to 2004.

On the other hand, Sebastian Vettel found it somewhat difficult to hide his disappointment at ultimately being outpaced by his own teammate. Even though the main thing for him is that he is able to be ahead of his main rival, Lewis Hamilton.

We can also note that for the second consecutive time, the three French drivers are in the top 10, with Romain Grosjean being the best behind the three leading teams, finishing 6th, while Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly finish 8th and 9th.