Leclerc takes pole position for the 2022 Italian Grand Prix
Charles Leclerc took pole position in qualifying for the 2022 Italian Grand Prix ahead of Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz, both of whom will drop down the order once grid penalties are applied, as George Russell jumps up to the front row.
Leclerc’s time of 1m 20.161s put him on pole by 0.145s over Red Bull’s Verstappen, while Sainz was 0.268s off his team mate in P3. Verstappen has a five-place penalty, however, while Sainz will drop to 18th. While Sergio Perez qualified fourth for Red Bull, he will drop 10 places – with fifth-place qualifier Lewis Hamilton to drop to the back row alongside Yuki Tsunoda.
Therefore, Russell will start second despite qualifying sixth. McLaren’s Lando Norris qualified seventh to guarantee a second-row start, while Daniel Ricciardo is set to be promoted after qualifying eighth. Fernando Alonso did not set a time for Alpine in Q3, but will be promoted behind AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly.
Esteban Ocon lost out on the top-10 shootout in P11, ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas. Substituting for Williams’ appendicitis-struck driver Alex Albon, Nyck de Vries finished 13th in his first F1 qualifying but is set for a top-10 start on his debut.
Esteban Ocon and Valtteri Bottas finished 11th and 12th before their respective five and 15-place grid penalties kick in. Zhou Guanyu qualified 14th and will also be promoted ahead of Ocon and Bottas – but having sat out Q2, back-of-grid starter Tsunoda will drop to P20 for Sunday’s race.
As Alfa Romeo’s Bottas snuck out of Q1, Nicholas Latifi managed a pre-penalty promotion 16th ahead of Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, with Vettel’s team mate Lance Stroll taking 18th in Q1. The Haas drivers rounded out the qualifying results, with Kevin Magnussen 19th and Mick Schumacher 20th – that pair to start 16th and 17th as Sainz, Hamilton and Tsunoda drop to the back of the grid
