What the teams said - Qualifying in Italy

[King_of_lion]

Vettel topped final practice, and it looked like the Ferrari pair were evenly matched heading into qualifying. Leclerc got the tow on their first runs in Q3 and grabbed provisional pole, with Vettel down in fourth. But as the clock ticked down and everyone scrambled for position on the final flying run, Leclerc overtook his team mate in a dash for the line and was the only one of the two to make it across in time to start a timed lap. Vettel was reasonably displeased with the situation as a whole, while the Monegasque sounded more bemused than anything. The fact remains that it is the youngster who starts on pole for the fourth time this season, and is best placed to go for the win tomorrow.Sebastian Vettel, 4th, 1:19.457“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.”Charles Leclerc, 1st, 1:19.307“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!”Mattia Binotto, Team Principal“We understood right from yesterday’s free practice that today’s qualifying would be very close and that slipstreaming would play a key role. The situation in Q3 was truly abnormal: it’s not often you see the majority of the cars being shown the chequered flag without having been able to do their quick lap, but that is the inevitable consequence of the strategy of waiting until the very last moment to make the very most of the aforementioned slipstreaming.“It was a shame for Seb, who just missed out on starting his flying lap by the tiniest margin, because being fourth, he was the driver with the most to lose in this situation. Having said that, today our cars were quick and clearly we are very pleased with this pole position, especially as it came here in front our of fans at our home race.”

 

MercedesHamilton struggled again in final practice, making small mistakes on his flying laps. Roll on qualifying, and he once again nailed a lap when it mattered to grab second. Bottas was fortunate to be third after his lap time was ruled to have just been completed a fraction before the red flags came out. With all the jostling towards the end of Q3, neither driver managed a second run and thus they split the Ferrari pair in what was an anti-climactic end to qualifying. With strong race pace, they are well placed to take the fight to Ferrari.Lewis Hamilton, 2nd, 1:19.346"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, 3rd, 1:19.354"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."Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport"It was a bizarre end to qualifying today; we were all trying to get the slipstream out there and that waiting game in the end just made everyone in Formula 1 look silly. Nevertheless, starting P2 and P3 in Monza and splitting the Ferraris is not a bad situation at all so we are very much looking forward to the race tomorrow. This position is something we would have taken coming here, but we are all racers and of course we will aim for more on Sunday. We are in a good position, we have a good car, not the fastest on the straights, but there are options. We'll make sure we are ready for tomorrow and I know we're all looking forward to getting out there and scoring some solid points."Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director"We hoped we'd be in the fight for pole today but it's always frustrating when you miss out by such a small margin. However, we have seen recently that race pace often wins out overall and I think we have done a good job of setting up the car to work well on a long run. The morning was fairly straight-forward, our programme was compressed a bit with the delayed start, but we had a good session with both cars and got a good read on the balance ahead of qualifying. Qualifying was pretty straight-forward until the last run; no one wants to be the lead car, so everyone left it pretty late to leave the garages and ultimately almost no one managed to get a second lap in. We're determined to make Ferrari work hard tomorrow and hopefully we can prevent them getting into a position where they control the race. So long as we can put them under pressure, we can start to open up some real opportunity with the strategy and the first stint will tell us whether we have the pace to do that."