Verstappen in strange difficulties – Sainz ran wild with Ferrari barely to the pole while the Italian audience cheered: “Skin with chicken meat”

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc took squares one and three of the starting grid of the home race in Monza. Max Verstappen wedged between the Ferraris. Valtteri Bottas was 14th.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz shouted the Italian crowd as he roared to pole position in qualifying for the history-making 74th Italian GP. The pole position was the Spaniard’s first this season.

– It was an intense time trial! I had to push all the way through the last lap. When I crossed the finish line, I got goosebumps. And it still hasn’t dropped. This is amazing! Sainz beamed in the post-qualifying interview on Viaplay.

See the message service X’s embedding of the Ferrari fans’ celebration at the moment Sainz crossed the finish line below.

Ferrari’s direct speed on the fast Monza track was irresistible even to the top name of the World Series For Max Verstappen, who beat his Red Bull driver to second. Sainz grabbed the pole position just 0.013 seconds behind the Dutchman.

Verstappen had a surprisingly difficult time. In the first qualifying section, his first timed lap was disqualified for violating track limits. In the last part of the time trial, the reigning champion slipped on the sand, but was able to keep the car under control.

– I am satisfied with the second place today, we were able to improve from yesterday’s training. We usually have a good car in the race, Verstappen said.

Third place on the starting grid for tomorrow’s race was taken by Ferrari Charles Leclerc. The crowd went completely wild when Leclerc started speaking Italian in the interview.

– This feels insane. I don’t smile very often when I’m third in qualifying, but in front of the support of this crowd, this is fantastic, Leclerc beamed in the post-qualifying interview.

Verstappen has grabbed eight pole positions in the 14th race of this season. Red Bull’s second driver With Sergio Perez and Leclerc has two qualifying wins, Mercedes with Lewis Hamilton one.

Aston Martin Fernando Alonso is the only driver to finish in the top 10 in every qualifying session when penalties are taken into account.

Alfa Romeo in Monza Valtteri Bottas made it to the second part of the time trial. He will start Sunday’s race from grid 14.

– We got the car better in practice, but the pace wasn’t too bad. We are quite good on the straights, but slow in the corners, Bottas was in pain.

The Ferrari drivers are under investigation, they were driving too slowly

After the first qualifying session, a confusing situation was seen, for which the Ferrari drivers will be investigated by the jury after the qualifying session. The duo exceeded the maximum allowed lap time, in other words they drove their preparatory lap too slowly.

So it is possible that the starting grid for Sunday’s race will still change.

The maximum lap time was introduced as a new rule at the Italian GP in order to avoid congestion at the end of the sections during qualifying. In previous years, this trend has been common especially on the fast Monza track. This time as well, because at the end of the second section, there was a huge traffic jam in the pit, as the drivers entered the track at the same time.

– In Monza, no one wants to be first, so it’s always such a joke. But we saw quite a clean qualifying session, says Bottas.

In qualifying, this season’s special rule was also in use, where certain tires were determined in advance for different sections of qualifying. A hard tire compound was used in Q1, a medium hard compound in Q2 and a soft compound in the last section.

Wider track limits than before were also introduced as a new rule to the Italian GP. Nevertheless, Verstappen and Alonso’s first time laps were disallowed for violating track limits.

The competition starts on Sunday at 16:00.