© Vladimir Rys2024 Italian Grand Prix - Qualifying ReportA tough Saturday for the team with a P7 & P8 start for the race on Sunday
MaxVerstappenandChecoPérezwillstarttheItalianGrandPrixfromseventhandeighthplacesonthegrid,aftertheirhopesofpolepositionwentupinacloudofdustasbothBullsstruggledforgripinatightqualifyingsessionatMonza.
In the final hour of practice, the Bulls focused on Medium-tyre running, with Max setting the initial pace on the yellow-banded compound early on. Prior to the switch to Softs for qualifying simulations, his best Medium tyre effort left him in P6 and that position didn’t change as the late performance runs unfolded. The champion waited until the final 10 minutes to bolt on the red-banded Softs, but when he did emerge, his flying lap yielded a time of 1:20.368 that left 0.251s behind new eventual P1 driver Lewis Hamilton. Checo, meanwhile, struggled on his Soft run and he ended the session in a lowly P18.
Checo's Strapped In© Oracle Red Bull Racing
At the start of Q1, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc set the early pace with a lap of 1:20.074. Checo was the first of the Bulls across the line and his opening flyer of 1:21.110 left him in P4. Max then posted his first flyer and his time of 1:20.226 netted him P2. He was soon demoted to third, however, when McLaren’s Lando Norris jumped to the top of the order with a lap of 1:19.911. Following cool down laps both Bulls returned to the pit lane to plot a second run.
Ahead of those final flyers, Max found himself in fourth place, having been dropped back by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz who was running out of sequence following a lurid slide on his opening flyer, while Checo was all the way down in 19th place, 1.2 seconds off the pace.
The Minister headed out for his final run with a little over four minutes remaining and onto a largely clear circuit, with only Williams’ Alex Albon also on track. Max followed soon after his team-mate but as Max trundled down the pit lane, Oscar Piastri was released directly into this path and the pair almost collided. The potential unsafe release was set to be investigated after the session.
Checo’s final flyer jumped him 10 places, up to P9, and though improvements arrived elsewhere, his 1:20.598 was good enough to keep him in that position as the session came to an end. Max looked to be on course to challenge for a slot close to the top of the Q1 timesheet, but as Norris claimed P1 ahead of Leclerc and Piastri, Max backed out of his final run and settled for safe passage through to Q2 in P6.
Ruled out at the end of the session were VCARB’s Yuki Tsunoda in P16, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, Williams’ rookie Franco Colapinto and the Saubers of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu.
At The Pits© Oracle Red Bull Racing
Leclerc once again set the early pace in Q2 with the Ferrari driver lapping in 1:20.296 to take top spot, 0.032s ahead of team-mate Sainz as both went out on used Softs. Max, on new Softs, went past the Ferrari pair as he took P1 with a lap of 1:19.874. The champion couldn’t keep top spot, though, as Norris jumped to P1 with a time of 1:19.727, 0.081 ahead of Piastri who was 0.066s ahead of Max. Hamilton then moved ahead of everyone with a lap of 1:19.641 as team-mate Russell slotted into fifth, 0.003s behind Max. Checo, meanwhile, posted a solid lap of 1:20.402 to take P7 before he headed back to the garage.
In the final runs of the middle session, Max improved to 1:19.662 to climb to second place behind pacesetter Hamilton, who failed to find more time on his final run. Norris and Sainz, who elected not to take to the track for the final runs, took third and fourth respectively ahead of the second McLaren of Piastri, while Checo eased through to Q3 in eighth place after finding almost two tenths of a second on his final flying lap.
There was, however, no place in the top 10 shootout for Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso who exited in P11 ahead of VCARB’s Daniel Ricciardo, Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and the Alpine cars of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon.
Max Ready & Prepped© Oracle Red Bull Racing
At the start of Q3 Checo was out on track early on used Softs, and after Alex Albon and Nico Hülkenberg took turns in P1, the Red Bull driver claimed top spot with a lap of 1:20.062. Max, meanwhile, had new tyres onboard but despite the supposed advantage the champion was disappointed by a lack of grip from the set, and at the end of a troubled lap, he crossed the line one hundredth of a second off his teammate. And as the rest of the opening flyers came in, with Norris claiming provisional pole on 1:19.401 ahead of teammate Piastri, the Bulls slid down to P7 and P8, behind the Mercedes and Ferrari pairings.
Max at Monza© Oracle Red Bull Racing
In a shock end to the top 10 shootout, there was very little improvement from the Bulls in the final runs. Checo was first out on track, with Max following close behind and hopeful of a tow. But battling a lack of grip, both drivers had nervous moments in the Lesmos that ultimately would compromise their laps. First, Checo had a moment of understeer in the second Lesmo and then Max, already upset by a moment in the first Lesmo, also went wide through the dust and gravel kicked up by his teammate.
As the pair powered toward the end of the lap they were also greeted by Russell and Hamilton on warm-up laps and when Checo backed out of his attempt Max was only able to find enough time to lift him above Checo and into P7.
At the top of the order, Norris took his second successive pole position ahead of Piastri and Russell as Leclerc made his way to the rear of two ahead of Sainz and Max. Checo was left with eighth place ahead of Albon and the final top 10 place went to Hülkenberg.
