Italy – Qualifying: Hamilton rockets past Rosberg!

The three free practice sessions of the Italian Grand Prix were outrageously dominated by the two Mercedes drivers, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. Under these conditions, the competition doesn’t have much room to secure a spot on the front row of the future starting grid.

First bad news for the Haas team as their driver Romain Grosjean will be penalized 5 grid positions at the start on Sunday. Indeed, the French driver went off at the beginning of the third free practice session this morning and damaged his gearbox while trying to extract his car from the gravel. Quite comfortable on this very fast Monza circuit, Grosjean sees part of his ambitions go up in smoke.

The Q1 starts and Pascal Wehrlein is the first to hit the track at the wheel of his Manor. His duel with the Frenchman Esteban Ocon will be one of the interesting points to follow during this session, especially since the team seems confident to place at least one of its cars in Q2.

Kevin Magnussen, despite a more than late braking in the first chicane, sets the first reference at 1:24.074. The Dane has recovered well from his terrible accident in Belgium last weekend and is in full possession of his abilities.

While Nico Rosberg sets the fastest time with 1.22.497, Esteban Ocon stops his Manor at the exit of the pits. The session is over for the Frenchman. Lewis Hamilton, unshakable, puts more than 6 tenths on his teammate on his first flying lap. The Briton is going to be hard to beat today…

With 8 minutes remaining in the session, almost all the drivers are on track to set a fast lap. The two Ferraris, on Soft tires, position themselves behind the Mercedes and ahead of the Red Bulls, who are on Super Soft tires.

At the bottom of the standings, the advance to Q2 will be contested between the two Saubers, the two Renaults, the Haas, and the McLarens. Fernando Alonso is the first of the non-qualifiers ahead of Romain Grosjean. But both men will go back out.

In the last seconds, Gutierrez and Grosjean escape elimination, unlike Magnussen and Palmer who finish 20th and 21st. Wehrlein places 15th, just ahead of Alonso who narrowly edged out the Toro Rosso of Daniil Kvyat, only 17th. The Russian is very upset on the radio about his underperformance and some somewhat dense traffic.

The drivers eliminated in Q1: Kvyat, Nasr, Ericsson, Palmer, Magnussen, Ocon

In Q2, Mercedes surprised everyone by taking to the track with yellow-banded Soft tires. Let’s remember that it is with the tires that achieved the best time in Q2 that the drivers will start on Sunday. Hamilton and Rosberg are thus reserving a bold tactical choice for tomorrow’s race.

But even with tires reputed to be less fast, the two silver arrows shattered the best times of the weekend. The Briton clocked an astounding 1:21.498, three-tenths ahead of his German teammate. Behind, the two Williams cars seemed fast, but Valtteri Bottas was already a second behind Hamilton’s benchmark. The Ferraris were equally powerless, finishing 3rd and 5th, Vettel ahead of Räikkönen, under the eyes of the big boss, Sergio Marchionne.

In the Top 10, Gutierrez creates a surprise and the Red Bulls rank 9th and 10th having attempted the same tire strategy as the Mercedes. There are now 5 minutes left for the 16 drivers to change the situation. The Super Softs are therefore out, except for Mercedes who remain loyal to the Softs.

Gutierrez secures a Q3 by slotting into 7th place between the two Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen. Felipe Massa, only 11th, is the first to be eliminated, along with Grosjean and the two McLarens. Pascal Wehrlein once again creates a sensation by slipping between Alonso and Button. Carlos Sainz, with a 2015 power unit, closes the lineup.

The ones eliminated in Q2: Massa, Grosjean, Alonso, Wehrlein, Button, Sainz

The ten best drivers of the day therefore set off for the Q3. As since yesterday, Hamilton is ahead of Rosberg by almost 0.3 seconds this time. It’s roughly the same gap that separates Kimi Räikkönen, in third place, from his teammate Vettel, whom he is ahead of for the first time this weekend. Bottas, Ricciardo, Verstappen, and the two Force Indias of Hülkenberg and Pérez follow.

The last few minutes won’t change the situation much, except for a bigger gap between the two Mercedes. Hamilton pushing Rosberg back by half a second! Vettel also takes advantage to reclaim 3rd place from Räikkönen, but by putting all four wheels outside the white line in the Parabolica.

PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION: (END OF Q3) HAM utterly dominant #Quali #ItalianGP 🇮🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/JmlNsCY8vF

— Formula 1 (@F1) 3 septembre 2016