Italy – Qualifications: A Historic Hamilton-Bottas Double, the Celebration Continues for Mercedes!

Q3: Mercedes still on its own planet even without Party Mode

At the start of this final phase of qualifying, it was Lewis Hamilton who set the fastest lap, slightly slower than Valtteri Bottas’s lap in Q2. However, the Briton proved he was the king today by breaking the track record once again with a 1:18.887. With an average speed of 264km/h, the six-time world champion set the fastest lap in Formula 1.

Only 68 hundredths separate the two Mercedes drivers, but it’s still Bottas in second on the grid, as he hasn’t beaten his garage neighbor on Saturday since the Austrian Grand Prix, the first of the season in early July! A problem he will need to solve if he wants to beat Lewis Hamilton more easily on Sunday.

It was also a very good qualifying session for Carlos Sainz who, after holding 2nd place in FP3, managed to qualify his McLaren in 3rd position. The future Ferrari driver rose on his last flying lap ahead of Perez’s Racing Point and Max Verstappen’s Red Bull.

Smoooooth… you know the rest ????#ItalianGP ???????? #F1 pic.twitter.com/k4QZwNTVCv

— Formula 1 (@F1) September 5, 2020

Q2: The underperformance of Renault, unique disaster at Monza for Ferrari

It was a very good start to Q2 for Lewis Hamilton, who broke the track record for the first time on his initial attempt, on medium tires. A lap in 1:19.092, which beats by just under 1 tenth the record set by Kimi Räikkönen in his Ferrari in 2018.

A new absolute record was broken at the end of the session, this time thanks to Valtteri Bottas, the first driver in Formula 1 history to go under the 1.18 mark at Monza. The Finn was followed by his teammate Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz driving his supercharged McLaren.

Q2 really disappointing on the other hand for Renault with Esteban Ocon, eliminated in 12th position, and Daniel Ricciardo only 9th. A strange underperformance considering the good form of the RS.20 in Belgium. A good pace that the French manufacturer was convinced it could reproduce in Italy thanks to its car’s very low aerodynamic drag.

With Sebastian Vettel eliminated in 17th position and Charles Leclerc in 13th, this weekend in Monza is the worst qualifying session in the history of Scuderia Ferrari on its home soil.

List of eliminated: Kvyat, Ocon, Leclerc, Räikkönen, Magnussen.

Neither Ferrari will start from inside the top ten at Monza, for the first time since 1984#ItalianGP ???????? #F1 https://t.co/RsCuxku3MX

— Formula 1 (@F1) September 5, 2020

Q1: Big disappointment for Vettel

As in Monza last year, this year also experienced a lot of traffic jams right from the start of Q1, with several drivers fighting to be ahead of the others to take advantage of the slipstream. A dangerous and problematic situation, which trapped Vettel in Q1.

On a flying lap and in traffic, the German couldn’t improve his lap. Like Charles Leclerc at the beginning of Q1, the four-time world champion should have stayed on track to set a timed lap without being blocked by other drivers. George Russell was also blocked, preventing him from getting out of Q2, which he had managed to do several times since the start of the season.

List of eliminated: Grosjean, Vettel, Giovinazzi, Russell, Latifi.

Eliminated in Q1, Seb watched Q3 from trackside in Monza#ItalianGP ???????? #F1 pic.twitter.com/jqDFjIeUkU

— Formula 1 (@F1) September 5, 2020

The complete qualification standings: