The Friday in F1 Italian GP saw the return of Sprint Qualifying, with Friday hosting the usual qualifying where it was a super close fight behind the Top 2.

The Friday in F1 Italian GP sprung a bit of a surprise after Valtteri Bottas leapt into top position in qualifying to start the Sprint Qualifying from first ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton and second row starters Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.

Even though Bottas was giving tow to Hamilton, the Finn improved nicely on his final attempt to go quickest by 0.096s from his Mercedes F1 teammate. The biggest relief was that he managed to topple Verstappen, who got ahead in their first run.

The Finn was naturally chuffed but for him, there is a penalty incoming on Sunday, when he has to start from the back of the grid due to engine change. During the session it also came to light that Bottas hit a squirrel at Lesmo One, as he said on his radio.

The moment wasn’t caught on camera unlike the moment with Nicholas Latifi, where he missed a rabbit by an inch at Lesmo Two. Going back to the fight at the front, Hamilton did feel the pinch and noted about lack of pace on his side and not getting a good lap.

His F1 title rival, Verstappen, though managed to salvage a good result, even though he never felt aligned with the car in qualifying. Despite getting the tow from Sergio Perez, who ended up ninth, it wasn’t straightforward, but he managed to eke out one good lap.

Bottas: “It was beautiful lap, which I managed to save for the end. I felt relaxed in the car and I am happy with our work as a team. The car has felt good all day, with our performance little stronger than we perhaps expected, especially when you look at the gap to Red Bull. Hopefully it will be similar on the race pace for us.

“I know I’ll be starting from the back on Sunday with the PU change but the focus is on Sprint Qualifying and trying to extract as many points as possible. We know Sunday will be a fight, but our pace is good and I’m sure we can finish strong then too. And yeah, during Q2, I told on the radio that, ‘I ran over a squirrel, unfortunately. When I come in, I hit the squirrel with the front-right tyre so the right-hand-side of the car, have a look’.”

Hamilton: “I struggled a bit in that last session for whatever reason, so not the best Qualifying for me. But in general, it was close between us all out there and I’m happy to have a front row lockout for the team. I don’t know where Red Bull pulled out their pace, but it’s going to be close. They were miles off in Q1 and 2, but all of a sudden they were up there with us, so it just shows it’s still super close.”

Verstappen: “Obviously it wasn’t the best, but we also know that this track isn’t our best track, just because of the long straights. Of course you try to trim it with the downforce and… third is good. I was actually quite happy when I heard that I was in third because in FP1 we were struggling a bit with balance but I think we recovered quite well and, I mean, it would have been unrealistic to hope for more, so I think third was good. Maybe we could be a bit closer, but I don’t think we can challenge them, but you never know what happens in a race – so we will try to keep the pressure on.”

As usual, the F1 midfield is pretty close behind the Top 3 drivers, but the characteristics of Monza brought out the pace of McLaren duo, where Norris edged out Daniel Ricciardo. The Australian, though, looked much better than he has previously, especially when pitted against his teammate. Their arch rivals, Ferrari, were not far behind, with Carlos Sainz seventh and Charles Leclerc eighth – the latter having engine issues all-through.

They were beaten by AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, whose teammate Yuki Tsunoda was knocked out in Q1 due to track limits. For McLaren, it was fight back from Zandvoort, where they struggled and lost to Ferrari, while for the latter, it was a salvage job to be in the Top 10. The Q3 also had Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi, once again, making it in, in qualifying.

Ricciardo: “Honestly when you see like, what, two hundredths from third or something like that? Yes, it’s so small, that’s just frustrating, that’s all. That’s all I can say, it’s just frustrating, so, it will be fun. I’ve come into this weekend with certainly some internal emotions, positive ones, and yes, it certainly didn’t help those, if you know what I mean. So I’m looking forward to Saturday and Sunday and it’s probably what I need, it’s a blessing in disguise, and I just want to race now. I’m just hungry. I’m hungry. I want it. I’m just… I’m ready to go. Just for me, just to go and have some fun. But we’re in a good spot, I mean it was obviously a great qualifying for us, but when you’re so close it’s just more painful I guess.”

Sainz: “It’s good progress compared to last year. You need to remember last year, one car was out in Q1, the other one was in P13, so in a matter of a year, we’ve progressed in this sort of track that we know it doesn’t suit the characteristics of the car. But we still want more and we will keep working for it. But we managed to keep improving throughout the session, we managed to put together some good laps. Very close between Charles and me, there or thereabouts, so it shows that the car is where it is. We want more for the future, but it’s what we have.”

Gasly: “It’s always tricky. We know here it’s always a game of cat and mouse, you know, no one wants to lead, everybody wants to get a tow. It was important to get some clean laps which is what we’ve managed to do. It was a very good quali, another P6, I don’t know how many times we’ve qualified P6 this year, but it just shows we are doing a very good job and I’m really happy with the team. I think I gave everything out there and it was a very good lap to put us in P6.

“I think the McLarens – Mercedes engines – were really strong all qualifying and looking at the GPS in between the sessions we saw a very big gap in the straights and that’s why we I think really maximised our potential, outqualifying ahead of the two Ferraris again. Already a much better qualifying than last time we had this format. So, started a lot better in practice and I think tomorrow it’s going to be 18 intense laps trying to see if we have the pace to stay with the guys ahead and try to put us in a good place for Sunday.”

Giovinazzi: “Yes, again, a great job, great lap; especially in Q2 and Q3 we had only one set and we did the same lap time in Q2. Happy with this and another, like I say, another Q3 for the team and for myself. And to make [it] here in Italy, in front of the tifosi, is something great. Again we know it will only be 18 laps so strategy will not be important; first lap will be important, then we’ll see what will happen. Everything can happen, it’s Sprint… so we need to try and gain some positions or to stay there and then to make ourselves in a better position for Sunday.”

His new F1 teammate Robert Kubica was decent, even though he was beaten by Haas’ Mick Schumacher towards the end, who ended up ahead of teammate Nikita Mazepin despite giving tow to him. It wasn’t the best of runs for either of Aston Martin, Alpine and even Williams drivers, for that matter.

Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel rued the small mistake on his side, while the Alpine F1 duo noted that they simply did not have enough pace in the tank for Q3. It was same for the Williams pair, who couldn’t extract as much from their car, even though George Russell had some luck to make it into Q2 after Tsunoda’s track limits lap deletion.

Vettel: “It was very busy on track with everybody trying to find a tow and in the end we just missed out on making Q3 by three hundredths. I was happy with my lap in Q2: it was a good lap, but it could have been a little cleaner in the middle sector. It is a shame to miss Q3 by a small margin, but I still believe we can make up ground to be in a stronger position for Sunday when it matters most.”

Alonso: “We didn’t have many laps today with the shorter format, but we couldn’t find the pace in the end. We got through to Q2 but then my first run in that session wasn’t ideal as I locked up the front tyres going into Turn 1. This meant I only had one push lap. Q3 might have been possible today with a few tenths to gain. It’s the Sprint, though, so let’s see what we can do then. It will be more difficult to overtake than it was at Silverstone, and the first few corners will be tight, but we have to remember the points are scored on Sunday.”

Russell: “It has been a really tricky day, and we aren’t quite as competitive here as we would have hoped. Since we hit the ground with FP1 we weren’t in the right window with the car and that really compromises you on a weekend like this. We did a really good job executing qualifying though and the team got me in the right position on track, but today just wasn’t meant to be. I think we are in a better position for the Sprint tomorrow than we were today, but generally I think it’s going to be a tough weekend. However, we need to build momentum and see what we can achieve.”

Mazepin: “One more interesting, hectic qualifying session out there. I was happy to get a clean lap at the end, in terms of being able to start, as we were going very slow on the straight next to the last corner. I went off unfortunately on my fastest lap which cost me quite some time.”

Here’s video of Nicholas Latifi getting surprised by a rabbit: https://twitter.com/F1/status/1436388795537055745?s=20

Here’s how F1 Italian GP qualifying panned out

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