During the qualifying session only the soft compound tyre could be used and that combined with the slipstream worked perfectly for Valterri Bottas who romped to pole position for Saturday’s Italian GP sprint race, just ahead of Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton.
Max Verstappen managed to pull out an excellent lap in Q3 to finish third, just ahead of Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo in the McLarens. Bottas though, will have a complete engine change and thus he will start Sunday’s race at the back of the grid.
Just a few days after being announced as a Mercedes driver for 2022, George Russell had to thank Yuki Tsunoda who had a lap time deleted for exceeding track limits, which then meant Russell in the Williams moved into 15th position and into Q2, eventually placing 15th.
Full 2021 Italian GP Qualifying Results
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Q3 Lap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:19.555 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | +0.096 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | +0.411 |
| 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | +0.434 |
| 5 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | +0.440 |
| 6 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | +0.705 |
| 7 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | +0.907 |
| 8 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | +0.955 |
| 9 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | +1.056 |
| 10 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | +1.253 |
| 11 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | Eliminated in Q2 |
| 12 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | Eliminated in Q2 |
| 13 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | Eliminated in Q2 |
| 14 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | Eliminated in Q2 |
| 15 | George Russell | Williams | Eliminated in Q2 |
| 16 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | Eliminated in Q1 |
| 17 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | Eliminated in Q1 |
| 18 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | Eliminated in Q1 |
| 19 | Robert Kubica | Alfa Romeo | Eliminated in Q1 |
| 20 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas | Eliminated in Q1 |
