The 2019 Italian Formula 1 Grand Prix qualifying session was a chaos we never saw before. Because nobody wanted to be ahead of the pack, 7 out of 9 drivers didn't make it to the start/finish line on time to start their final times qualifying lap. The only 2 who made it were Carlos Sainz (McLaren) and Charles Leclerc (Ferrari).
The qualifying session was very disappointing for:
- Sergio Pérez, who had again an engine failure with the Racing Point.
- Max Verstappen, who even didn't manage to get a lap time on the leaderboard with an engine issue.
- Kimi Raikkonen, who crashed out of Q3 when he lost control of his Alfa Romeo in Parabolica corner.
As expected Leclerc did achieve what was expected from him. Ferrari scored their second consecutive pole at Monza. Hopefully for them Leclerc can also turn the pole into his 2nd race win at Ferrari's home grand prix. As Ferrari's last Italian F1 Grand prIx was 9 years ago when Fernando Alonso.won as Ferrari driver.
At this time the official starting grid isn't published yet by the Fia. We have summed up the drivers comments according the qualifying results for the 2019 Italian Formula 1 Grand Prix.
Scuderia Ferrari
Charles Leclerc
“Of course, it felt amazing when I came out of the car and heard our tifosi cheering from the grandstands. On the other hand, it is a shame for Seb who had the potential to do first or second, and I think that as a team we deserved that today. It was quite a messy qualifying session, especially in Q3. In the last few minutes, we found ourselves in an odd situation at the exit of the second corner where two cars were blocking our way. Seb overtook me there, because I think that he was aware that we were tight on timing. After this, I tried to find the best tow and then overtook Seb before the last corner to give him the tow back, but unfortunately, it was too late to achieve what we had planned.
Looking at the race, our pace looked quite strong in FP2 and the gap to our competitors is smaller than it was in Spa-Francorchamps. DRS and tow are very important here in Monza, so the target will be to create a gap in the first three laps that is big enough not to see them again!”
Sebastian Vettel
“I was happy with the car which was really good, and I was also pleased with my lap today, but I cannot be happy with how qualifying went. At the end of Q3, most of us didn’t make it through to the second attempt. The lap I did on my own without a tow was good. I think we went out late and then obviously you look for a tow, but it’s clear we waited too long, so in the end there was no margin.
At the end I just had no choice but to miss my last lap because the light was already red, so I’m obviously disappointed. But from fourth on the grid there are still plenty of chances to do well. Let’s see how it goes tomorrow.”
Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport
Lewis Hamilton
"We didn’t get pole but at the end of the day, Ferrari were always going to be strong here and Charles did a great job today. I was unfortunate with Kimi spinning off right in front of me, so I had to lift at the last corner on my first lap.
The end of Q3 was a bit of an anti-climax; we couldn’t all go out and do that final lap, which is usually one of the most exciting parts of a race weekend. There was more time in the car, so it’s disappointing that we didn’t get to properly thrash that out on the final lap and see who had that little edge today. It’s great to be able to get on the front row and separate the Ferraris. Together we’ve got a good chance as a team to get that Ferrari, but let’s see tomorrow."
Valtteri Bottas
"I think I was quite unlucky today with the yellow flag at the final corner on my first lap. Kimi went off and I had to lift. Even with that lap I was pretty close to Charles and Lewis, so it could have been an even better day for me. Then the final run was a bit of a mess for everyone. We just ran out of the time at the end of Q3.
I got stuck in traffic and then it was too late to get to the line for a second quick lap. It’s a shame, we all would have liked to get that lap in and I’m sure everyone wanted to see that too; hopefully we can learn from this. But in general, the pace was good and I’m pleased with my performance today. I’m happy to be right behind the front row; we all know that it’s tomorrow that counts and you’ve always got a good chance starting in the top three here. Our race pace seemed good yesterday, so hopefully we can take the fight to the Ferraris tomorrow."
Renault F1 Team
Daniel Ricciardo
“It was a great qualifying for the team, locking out the third row. We executed everything well today, and the result is a good reward for that. I had a good Q3 lap, and we’ve been a solid top six all weekend.
Just like in Spa, we’ve been strong since the summer break and that’s pleasing. No one wanted to be first on the road at the end, everyone was side by side. It was a consequence of no one wanting to give their tow to everyone else. Still, fifth on the grid is really solid.”
Nico Hulkenberg
“I’m happy with the result, but it could have been a little better. It was okay, I lost some rhythm in Q2 with a lock-up at Turn 1, so I had to reset myself.
The ending was clearly a bit extreme but the tow has a big impact here and it’s worth a couple of tenths, which you can’t make up in the corners. That’s why we had some games at the end. It was peculiar with all the cars bunched up. Our pace was clearly very strong today and we have to back it up with points on Sunday.”
McLaren F1 Team
Carlos Sainz Jr.
“It was quite an eventful qualifying for everyone. A weird last run we aren’t used to seeing. Anyway, I think I managed to extract the maximum from the car and, as a team, we executed a very solid quali, so we should be happy with our overall performance today.
“P7 is a good starting position for tomorrow and it gives us a good fighting chance for the race and for points. The weather might play a big role, so we’ll be ready for different scenarios.”
Lando Norris (P14 - 1st time in 2019)
Lando Norris
“It’s been a reasonable day. I was already on the back foot from yesterday. Even in FP3, because I was still a bit more race-focussed, when it comes to the qualifying laps, the more situations you can be in to prepare for that, the better.
“I feel what I did today was what I needed to do. I qualified ahead of Verstappen and ahead of Gasly, the two other drivers who have penalties. I also helped Carlos into Q3. Everything we could do, we did – so a good day.”
Aston Martin Red Bull Racing
Alexander Albon
“Although I’m still learning what the car needs to be really quick, it felt good before the final run in Q3. I was fighting for P4 or P5 on the grid but then we got the red flag and the lap was compromised. On the second lap it was more of a priority for us to put in a good time but the guys who had already done a lap could afford to be a bit slower.
Everyone came out too late because no one wanted to be in front as we all wanted the slip steam and that created a delay. These cars have quite a lot of drag so getting a tow can gain you an extra two or three tenths which you need to get up the field. I was trying to pass the other cars but because everyone was weaving down the straights to keep the tyre temperature up as we were going so slow, it got backed up and it became impossible to overtake.
I realised by Turn 4 that it was going to be difficult to make it. When we all knew time was running out everyone suddenly picked up their pace, so we were almost flat out by the end of the lap. We should have taken less risk on the second run, but we were fighting for a top five position. It’s frustrating as getting a good position in qualifying would have made tomorrow’s race a lot easier but I had good pace yesterday so there is everything to fight for.”
Max Verstappen
“Qualifying didn’t exactly go to plan. I wanted to go out and do one lap to see how competitive we were in Q1, even though we are starting at the back because of the penalty, but out of Turn 2 I felt a loss of power and we chose to abort the lap. I’m not worried about the power unit for tomorrow as we haven’t seen problems in the race before and the upgrade seems to be working well in terms of performance as you could see from our times in FP3.
In the dry it will be pretty tough tomorrow as the leaders should be able to pull away quickly in the first few laps and there are a lot of cars that look competitive around here. On a track where there aren’t many corners and the lap times are so similar it is harder to close that gap, but in the wet the differences are normally a bit bigger and then we can definitely move to the front. Rain tomorrow would give us a better chance but even in the dry we have a good race car so it should be fun and I’m aiming for the top five.”
SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team
Lance Stroll
“I’m happy to be back in Q3 because it’s been a little while. However, it’s a shame we couldn’t set a time at the end there. I think everyone underestimated the time to get to the line, everyone got greedy looking for the tow and in the end nobody got it! Hats off to Sainz: he judged it just right.
I have some good memories of coming here [to Monza] over the years. It’s awesome to be behind the wheel of an F1 car on a high-speed track like this because you really get to feel the car working at its best. I’m hoping for some mixed conditions to spice things up tomorrow and to score some good points for the team.”
Sergio Pérez (P17 - 1st time in 2019)
Sergio Pérez
“It’s a big shame. We lost an opportunity today and we were not able to go through. I think it was something with the engine but I don’t know yet - I haven’t spoken with my engineers.
I just lost power and had to stop the car. We’ll see what we’re able to do tomorrow. Hopefully we can minimise the damage and have a strong race to try and score points.”
Alfa Romeo Racing
Kimi Raikkonen
“I paid the price for my mistake which is a bit of a shame as the car was behaving pretty well.
There is a lot of damage so we have to see where I’ll start tomorrow, but maybe the weather will help and in mixed conditions we can still get a good result. I’ll definitely try my best to make up ground in the race.”
Antonio Giovinazzi
“It was a bit frustrating to miss out on Q3 for just two thousandths. I lost a little bit of time in the second chicane because one car went out and put gravel on the track, but this is the price you pay when the field is so tight.
We wanted more but we still have a decent opportunity to have a good race. We have to take the positives, we get to choose our starting tyres and I think it can be an advantage – assuming it doesn’t rain. We are just outside the top ten – if we have a good start and a good strategy we can be right in the fight for points.”
Rich Energy Haas F1 Team
Kevin Magnussen
“It was about as good as it could be today, but Q3 was only about a tenth away, and you always feel like you could have taken that. I got out behind Albon, who was much quicker than me, so he pulled away and I only got a tow for half a lap – because then he was gone.
That’s how it is. We got more-or-less everything out of it that we could. We’ve seen before that the car drops in race pace, but we can just hope it doesn’t do that tomorrow. Friday looked a little bit positive, so we hope that’s going to carry into tomorrow and be the same again. We’re not far from the points. If we have a decent race car we can go for it.”
Romain Grosjean
“Very much disappointed not to make it through to Q2 today. The car was actually better than it had been in FP3 and in the corners I was fast. Just compared to Kevin (Magnussen) though we’re lacking a lot of top speed,
I don’t know why, but it costs you a lot of lap time. My lap was good, I had a bit of traffic through turns four and five, I probably lost a bit of time there, but every other corner I was fast. It’s just very disappointing not to have gained more in a straight line, I was using the slipstream as much as I could. We need to look into everything.”
Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda
Daniil Kvyat (P13 - 2nd time in 2019)
Daniil Kvyat
“Unfortunately, today wasn’t representative of our true pace. On the last lap in Q2 we caught quite a few cars and it became quite messy. I had a lot of traffic on my lap, where cars ahead were making mistakes and aborting their runs, and even coping with that, I still almost made it to Q3. It’s a shame because I think we had Q3 within reach and we just made our life more difficult.
We tried something different but it didn’t work, so it’s a good lesson for the future. It’s not going to be easy but we will try as always to get into the points tomorrow. Our race pace didn’t look too bad yesterday and our package looks quite competitive here, so if we prepare well and have a race like we had in Spa we should hopefully be on for a good result, to make it up for today.”
Pierre Gasly (P15 - 1st time in 2019)
Pierre Gasly
“It’s been a positive Saturday for us. As we have the penalty this weekend, we focussed on the long run this morning, trying to get a good read with the car on high fuel. However, we decided to give it a go in Qualifying to see what we had.
I felt really good in the car and we were quite competitive, finishing ninth-quickest at the time. In Q2 we fitted the used tyres from Q1 to get some laps in, as we knew we would start from the back of the grid. The car has been pretty good all weekend and we’ve shown good pace so, even with the penalty, I think we will have our chances in tomorrow’s race and I’m excited to see what we can do.”
ROKiT Williams Racing
George Russell
“My first lap was very good, but my second run was a bit of a shame. I came out of turn five and one of the cars ahead of me had gone off through the gravel and brought a load of it back on, so I had no grip at the next corner.
However, it is positive that we were closer to the rest of the field than expected and I can be happy with qualifying, as I feel that we did quite a good job to maximise our package.
”
Robert Kubica
"We knew it would not be an easy session for us, but that is how it is. The feeling up to qualifying in the car was not too bad, then in qualifying, the balance changed completely which was a bit disappointing to see.
We have to see what the weather will do tomorrow and hope for the best."
✅ Check out 2019 Italian F1 GP Qualifying Report & Classification
✅ Check out 2019 F1 Championship Standings
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✅ Check out more posts with related topics:
The 2019 Italian Formula 1 Grand Prix qualifying session was a chaos we never saw before. Because nobody wanted to be ahead of the pack, 7 out of 9 drivers didn't make it to the start/finish line on time to start their final times qualifying lap. The only 2 who made it were Carlos Sainz (McLaren) and Charles Leclerc (Ferrari).
The qualifying session was very disappointing for:
As expected Leclerc did achieve what was expected from him. Ferrari scored their second consecutive pole at Monza. Hopefully for them Leclerc can also turn the pole into his 2nd race win at Ferrari's home grand prix. As Ferrari's last Italian F1 Grand prIx was 9 years ago when Fernando Alonso.won as Ferrari driver.
At this time the official starting grid isn't published yet by the Fia. We have summed up the drivers comments according the qualifying results for the 2019 Italian Formula 1 Grand Prix.
Scuderia Ferrari
Charles Leclerc (P1 - 4th time in 2019)
Charles Leclerc
“Of course, it felt amazing when I came out of the car and heard our tifosi cheering from the grandstands. On the other hand, it is a shame for Seb who had the potential to do first or second, and I think that as a team we deserved that today. It was quite a messy qualifying session, especially in Q3. In the last few minutes, we found ourselves in an odd situation at the exit of the second corner where two cars were blocking our way. Seb overtook me there, because I think that he was aware that we were tight on timing. After this, I tried to find the best tow and then overtook Seb before the last corner to give him the tow back, but unfortunately, it was too late to achieve what we had planned.
Looking at the race, our pace looked quite strong in FP2 and the gap to our competitors is smaller than it was in Spa-Francorchamps. DRS and tow are very important here in Monza, so the target will be to create a gap in the first three laps that is big enough not to see them again!”
Sebastian Vettel (P4 - 1st time in 2019)
Sebastian Vettel
“I was happy with the car which was really good, and I was also pleased with my lap today, but I cannot be happy with how qualifying went. At the end of Q3, most of us didn’t make it through to the second attempt. The lap I did on my own without a tow was good. I think we went out late and then obviously you look for a tow, but it’s clear we waited too long, so in the end there was no margin.
At the end I just had no choice but to miss my last lap because the light was already red, so I’m obviously disappointed. But from fourth on the grid there are still plenty of chances to do well. Let’s see how it goes tomorrow.”
Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport
Lewis Hamilton (P2 - 6th time in 2019)
Lewis Hamilton
"We didn’t get pole but at the end of the day, Ferrari were always going to be strong here and Charles did a great job today. I was unfortunate with Kimi spinning off right in front of me, so I had to lift at the last corner on my first lap.
The end of Q3 was a bit of an anti-climax; we couldn’t all go out and do that final lap, which is usually one of the most exciting parts of a race weekend. There was more time in the car, so it’s disappointing that we didn’t get to properly thrash that out on the final lap and see who had that little edge today. It’s great to be able to get on the front row and separate the Ferraris. Together we’ve got a good chance as a team to get that Ferrari, but let’s see tomorrow."
Valtteri Bottas (P3 - 3rd time in 2019)
Valtteri Bottas
"I think I was quite unlucky today with the yellow flag at the final corner on my first lap. Kimi went off and I had to lift. Even with that lap I was pretty close to Charles and Lewis, so it could have been an even better day for me. Then the final run was a bit of a mess for everyone. We just ran out of the time at the end of Q3.
I got stuck in traffic and then it was too late to get to the line for a second quick lap. It’s a shame, we all would have liked to get that lap in and I’m sure everyone wanted to see that too; hopefully we can learn from this. But in general, the pace was good and I’m pleased with my performance today. I’m happy to be right behind the front row; we all know that it’s tomorrow that counts and you’ve always got a good chance starting in the top three here. Our race pace seemed good yesterday, so hopefully we can take the fight to the Ferraris tomorrow."
Renault F1 Team
Daniel Ricciardo (P5 - 1st time in 2019 )
Daniel Ricciardo
“It was a great qualifying for the team, locking out the third row. We executed everything well today, and the result is a good reward for that. I had a good Q3 lap, and we’ve been a solid top six all weekend.
Just like in Spa, we’ve been strong since the summer break and that’s pleasing. No one wanted to be first on the road at the end, everyone was side by side. It was a consequence of no one wanting to give their tow to everyone else. Still, fifth on the grid is really solid.”
Nico Hulkenberg (P6 - 1st time in 2019)
Nico Hulkenberg
“I’m happy with the result, but it could have been a little better. It was okay, I lost some rhythm in Q2 with a lock-up at Turn 1, so I had to reset myself.
The ending was clearly a bit extreme but the tow has a big impact here and it’s worth a couple of tenths, which you can’t make up in the corners. That’s why we had some games at the end. It was peculiar with all the cars bunched up. Our pace was clearly very strong today and we have to back it up with points on Sunday.”
Carlos Sainz (P7 - 3rd time in 2019)
Carlos Sainz Jr.
“It was quite an eventful qualifying for everyone. A weird last run we aren’t used to seeing. Anyway, I think I managed to extract the maximum from the car and, as a team, we executed a very solid quali, so we should be happy with our overall performance today.
“P7 is a good starting position for tomorrow and it gives us a good fighting chance for the race and for points. The weather might play a big role, so we’ll be ready for different scenarios.”
Lando Norris (P14 - 1st time in 2019)
Lando Norris
“It’s been a reasonable day. I was already on the back foot from yesterday. Even in FP3, because I was still a bit more race-focussed, when it comes to the qualifying laps, the more situations you can be in to prepare for that, the better.
“I feel what I did today was what I needed to do. I qualified ahead of Verstappen and ahead of Gasly, the two other drivers who have penalties. I also helped Carlos into Q3. Everything we could do, we did – so a good day.”
Aston Martin Red Bull Racing
Alexander Albon (P8 - 1st time in 2019)
Alexander Albon
“Although I’m still learning what the car needs to be really quick, it felt good before the final run in Q3. I was fighting for P4 or P5 on the grid but then we got the red flag and the lap was compromised. On the second lap it was more of a priority for us to put in a good time but the guys who had already done a lap could afford to be a bit slower.
Everyone came out too late because no one wanted to be in front as we all wanted the slip steam and that created a delay. These cars have quite a lot of drag so getting a tow can gain you an extra two or three tenths which you need to get up the field. I was trying to pass the other cars but because everyone was weaving down the straights to keep the tyre temperature up as we were going so slow, it got backed up and it became impossible to overtake.
I realised by Turn 4 that it was going to be difficult to make it. When we all knew time was running out everyone suddenly picked up their pace, so we were almost flat out by the end of the lap. We should have taken less risk on the second run, but we were fighting for a top five position. It’s frustrating as getting a good position in qualifying would have made tomorrow’s race a lot easier but I had good pace yesterday so there is everything to fight for.”
Max Verstappen (18th - 1st time in 2019)
Max Verstappen
“Qualifying didn’t exactly go to plan. I wanted to go out and do one lap to see how competitive we were in Q1, even though we are starting at the back because of the penalty, but out of Turn 2 I felt a loss of power and we chose to abort the lap. I’m not worried about the power unit for tomorrow as we haven’t seen problems in the race before and the upgrade seems to be working well in terms of performance as you could see from our times in FP3.
In the dry it will be pretty tough tomorrow as the leaders should be able to pull away quickly in the first few laps and there are a lot of cars that look competitive around here. On a track where there aren’t many corners and the lap times are so similar it is harder to close that gap, but in the wet the differences are normally a bit bigger and then we can definitely move to the front. Rain tomorrow would give us a better chance but even in the dry we have a good race car so it should be fun and I’m aiming for the top five.”
SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team
Lance Stroll (P9 - 1st time in 2019)
Lance Stroll
“I’m happy to be back in Q3 because it’s been a little while. However, it’s a shame we couldn’t set a time at the end there. I think everyone underestimated the time to get to the line, everyone got greedy looking for the tow and in the end nobody got it! Hats off to Sainz: he judged it just right.
I have some good memories of coming here [to Monza] over the years. It’s awesome to be behind the wheel of an F1 car on a high-speed track like this because you really get to feel the car working at its best. I’m hoping for some mixed conditions to spice things up tomorrow and to score some good points for the team.”
Sergio Pérez (P17 - 1st time in 2019)
Sergio Pérez
“It’s a big shame. We lost an opportunity today and we were not able to go through. I think it was something with the engine but I don’t know yet - I haven’t spoken with my engineers.
I just lost power and had to stop the car. We’ll see what we’re able to do tomorrow. Hopefully we can minimise the damage and have a strong race to try and score points.”
Kimi Räikkönen (P10 - 2nd time in 2019)
Kimi Raikkonen
“I paid the price for my mistake which is a bit of a shame as the car was behaving pretty well.
There is a lot of damage so we have to see where I’ll start tomorrow, but maybe the weather will help and in mixed conditions we can still get a good result. I’ll definitely try my best to make up ground in the race.”
Antonio Giovinazzi (P11 - 3rd time in 2019)
Antonio Giovinazzi
“It was a bit frustrating to miss out on Q3 for just two thousandths. I lost a little bit of time in the second chicane because one car went out and put gravel on the track, but this is the price you pay when the field is so tight.
We wanted more but we still have a decent opportunity to have a good race. We have to take the positives, we get to choose our starting tyres and I think it can be an advantage – assuming it doesn’t rain. We are just outside the top ten – if we have a good start and a good strategy we can be right in the fight for points.”
Kevin Magnussen P12 - 2nd time in 2019)
Kevin Magnussen
“It was about as good as it could be today, but Q3 was only about a tenth away, and you always feel like you could have taken that. I got out behind Albon, who was much quicker than me, so he pulled away and I only got a tow for half a lap – because then he was gone.
That’s how it is. We got more-or-less everything out of it that we could. We’ve seen before that the car drops in race pace, but we can just hope it doesn’t do that tomorrow. Friday looked a little bit positive, so we hope that’s going to carry into tomorrow and be the same again. We’re not far from the points. If we have a decent race car we can go for it.”
Romain Grosjean (P16 - 2nd time in 2019)
Romain Grosjean
“Very much disappointed not to make it through to Q2 today. The car was actually better than it had been in FP3 and in the corners I was fast. Just compared to Kevin (Magnussen) though we’re lacking a lot of top speed,
I don’t know why, but it costs you a lot of lap time. My lap was good, I had a bit of traffic through turns four and five, I probably lost a bit of time there, but every other corner I was fast. It’s just very disappointing not to have gained more in a straight line, I was using the slipstream as much as I could. We need to look into everything.”
Daniil Kvyat (P13 - 2nd time in 2019)
Daniil Kvyat
“Unfortunately, today wasn’t representative of our true pace. On the last lap in Q2 we caught quite a few cars and it became quite messy. I had a lot of traffic on my lap, where cars ahead were making mistakes and aborting their runs, and even coping with that, I still almost made it to Q3. It’s a shame because I think we had Q3 within reach and we just made our life more difficult.
We tried something different but it didn’t work, so it’s a good lesson for the future. It’s not going to be easy but we will try as always to get into the points tomorrow. Our race pace didn’t look too bad yesterday and our package looks quite competitive here, so if we prepare well and have a race like we had in Spa we should hopefully be on for a good result, to make it up for today.”
Pierre Gasly (P15 - 1st time in 2019)
Pierre Gasly
“It’s been a positive Saturday for us. As we have the penalty this weekend, we focussed on the long run this morning, trying to get a good read with the car on high fuel. However, we decided to give it a go in Qualifying to see what we had.
I felt really good in the car and we were quite competitive, finishing ninth-quickest at the time. In Q2 we fitted the used tyres from Q1 to get some laps in, as we knew we would start from the back of the grid. The car has been pretty good all weekend and we’ve shown good pace so, even with the penalty, I think we will have our chances in tomorrow’s race and I’m excited to see what we can do.”
ROKiT Williams Racing
George Russel (P18 - 3rd time in 2019)
George Russell
“My first lap was very good, but my second run was a bit of a shame. I came out of turn five and one of the cars ahead of me had gone off through the gravel and brought a load of it back on, so I had no grip at the next corner.
However, it is positive that we were closer to the rest of the field than expected and I can be happy with qualifying, as I feel that we did quite a good job to maximise our package.
”
Robert Kubica (P19 - 4th time in 2019)
Robert Kubica
"We knew it would not be an easy session for us, but that is how it is. The feeling up to qualifying in the car was not too bad, then in qualifying, the balance changed completely which was a bit disappointing to see.
We have to see what the weather will do tomorrow and hope for the best."
✅ Check out 2019 Italian F1 GP Qualifying Report & Classification
✅ Check out 2019 F1 Championship Standings
Please share this on social media:
✅ Check out more posts with related topics: