Lewis Hamilton took his first pole position in four months in an uneventful qualifying session for the Italian Grand Prix.
Hamilton headed all three phases of qualifying and ended up over a quarter of a second faster than team mate Nico Rosberg.
Mercedes power proved a vital advantage at Monza as the top six places were taken by cars using their engines. The Williams pair claimed row two ahead of the McLarens.
Q1
Mercedes led the way in the first part of qualifying but Felipe Massa revealed Williams were a close match for them on single lap pace. He briefly headed the championship contenders before first Rosberg and then Hamilton beat his mark.
Romain Grosjean made a late start to the session, joining the track with five minutes to go. But he could not make it out of the drop zone with his final runs, despite trying to get a slipstream from Jules Bianchi’s Marussia.
Nor could team mate Pastor Maldonado, whose final run was affected by a gearbox problem. Bianchi made an error on on his last lap and lost out to Caterham returnee Kamui Kobayashi, who took 19th.
Drivers eliminated in Q1
| 17 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus-Renault | 1’27.520 |
| 18 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1’27.632 |
| 19 | Kamui Kobayashi | Caterham-Renault | 1’27.671 |
| 20 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia-Ferrari | 1’27.738 |
| 21 | Max Chilton | Marussia-Ferrari | 1’28.247 |
| 22 | Marcus Ericsson | Caterham-Renault | 1’28.562 |
Q2
Mercedes maintained a slender advantage over the Williams pair in Q2. Once again Hamilton led the way to begin with, edging Rosberg by a tenth of a second, followed by Bottas and Massa.
The stayed in that order after their second runs, though Rosberg reduced the gap between them to just four-hundredths of a second.
As the final laps began Kimi Raikkonen had a tenuous hold on his place in the final ten, just a thousandth of a second fastest than Kevin Magnussen. He lost that hold after hitting trouble on his two final runs.
That allowed both Magnussen and Daniil Kvyat to beat his team, though the Toro Rosso driver failed to make the cut for the final ten.
Nico Hulkenberg also failed to accompany his driver into Q3, meaning Sergio Perez was Force India’s only representative to make it into the final stage of qualifying.
Drivers eliminated in Q2
| 11 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’26.070 |
| 12 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’26.110 |
| 13 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’26.157 |
| 14 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1’26.279 |
| 15 | Adrian Sutil | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’26.588 |
| 16 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’26.692 |
Q3
Hamilton’s first effort in Q3 turned out beyond anything Rosberg could match. There was four-tenths of a second between them at first, and Hamilton found most of that time in the middle sector.
Rosberg was stronger at the start of the lap, and began his final run 0.15s up on Hamilton at the first checkpoint. But he lost time over the rest of the lap, and despite improving his time was still over a quarter of a second slower than his team mate.
Once the engines were turned up to the fullest the Williams pair were over half a second slower than the Mercedes. McLaren added to Ferrari’s disappointment at home by bumping Fernando Alonso back to seventh.
Top ten in Q3
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’24.109 |
| 2 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’24.383 |
| 3 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 1’24.697 |
| 4 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1’24.865 |
| 5 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’25.314 |
| 6 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’25.379 |
| 7 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1’25.430 |
| 8 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1’25.436 |
| 9 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-Renault | 1’25.709 |
| 10 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’25.944 |
2014 Italian Grand Prix
- Hamilton voted Driver of the Weekend for third time
- Monza keeps up F1’s run of satisfying races
- 2014 Italian Grand Prix fans’ video gallery
- 2014 Italian Grand Prix team radio transcript
- Alex makes perfect prediction to claim top prize
Image © Daimler/Hoch Zwei
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
6th September 2014, 14:25
Didn’t Ricciardo always win the race if he’d been out paced by Vettel in qualifying?
Osvaldas31 (@osvaldas31)
6th September 2014, 14:55
Nope. Remember Malaysian GP.
Kartik
7th September 2014, 6:46
Then Ric should have 5 wins by now :) if we take out Monza Q but he got 3 only :P
KeeleyObsessed (@keeleyobsessed)
6th September 2014, 14:26
Great to see Hamilton ‘break his duck’ and get on pole. Seems like he’ll be able to control the race quite well and win. Question is, is Rosberg having an off weekend where he’s not quite up there, or has Hamilton genuinely got a lasting advantage for the rest of the season?
I’d love to see a great all-out race, hopefully clean..
(This is coming from a Briton who’s keeping a Rosberg betting slip in his wallet. No such thing as national patriotism)
Osvaldas31 (@osvaldas31)
6th September 2014, 14:56
Well, this is Lewis-type track i. e. full of braking zones and Lewis is fantastic in braking. So maybe a one-off.
Nick (@nick-uk)
6th September 2014, 16:25
I know what you mean but I wouldn’t say Lewis is fantastic at breaking. He lost out on spa pole due to continues balls ups on breaking at turn 1.
TED
6th September 2014, 16:36
He had a glazed brake
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
6th September 2014, 17:24
So did several others who did not mess up their laps.
timi (@timi)
6th September 2014, 17:29
@xtwl Not all glazed brakes are created equally pal. Eitherway, one race weekend with poor braking means pretty little when he has hundreds of racing under his belt..
KeeleyObsessed (@keeleyobsessed)
6th September 2014, 17:56
@osvaldas But surely Canada was his type of track? Austria aswell.. I’ll let him off Silverstone as it was more a judgement call on weather than necessarily being faster, and Hungary as the car didn’t give him a chance..
He’s had a string of bad Saturday’s for one reason or another (And I wouldn’t count Spa in that, especially as it’s been said Rosberg had the same problem), and he finally took the opportunity to get Q3 right. It’s good to finally see him get it right after so many failures..
Michael C
6th September 2014, 16:16
Well considering the UK if full of immigrants, you’re not wrong there…
KeeleyObsessed (@keeleyobsessed)
6th September 2014, 17:49
Immigration doesn’t come into it either. I’ve spent 18 and a half years living in England, and the most recent year of my life I’ve been living in Wales. I just believed that Rosberg would be a better bet on the championship as they had the same car, but Hamilton has been prone to mishaps during the races, either mechanical or his own mistakes, whereas Rosberg has remained largely bulletproof.. I always joked about having a bet on Alonso at the beginning of each season, especially in 2012!
I just don’t feel that where I was born should have any influence on who I support. I support who I want to..
Oli (@dh1996)
6th September 2014, 18:00
+1
I never understood that at all. I started as a Damon Hill fan in ’93, been a supporter of Berger, Alesi, Barrichello, Button, Trulli, Fisico, Alonso, Webber, Kobayashi and more troughout the years. I don’t think I’ve ever really cheered for someone from my country (which would be Schumi, Vettel …).
I don’t follow any other sport but I do get the appeal of supporting “your” team in football and other sports. F1 is just not one of these sports for me.
Dan
6th September 2014, 14:29
Well done Hamilton you keep saying the right things aswell Lauda is defo in your corner and you will keep you’re seat. Great time to break Rosstreak Ros will always have a doubt when racing now knowing he is 1 bit of contact from losing his seat. Hamilton will be ok as if he took Ros out Merc would be shown to favouring 1 guy if they sacked Hamilton.
Chris (@tophercheese21)
6th September 2014, 15:48
… What?
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
6th September 2014, 17:24
@tophercheese21 Silence, it’s trying to speak to us! :)
gdewilde (@gdewilde)
6th September 2014, 22:48
@xtwl kill it with fire!! ;-)
Ali Adams
6th September 2014, 14:33
All Mercedes’ problems can go away if Rosberg comes publicly and say he would let Hamilton through if he was leading to give him back 14 points of the possible 25 or 11 he cost him in Spa had they finished the race 1st 2nd or 2nd 1st.
Erik Kennedy (@erikkennedy)
6th September 2014, 14:50
Then they’d have a new problem: people (me, for example) wondering why on earth they would do that.
Ali Adams
6th September 2014, 15:04
To diffuse the tension between the drivers and if it genuinely come from Rosberg, then it would make them a real friends once again, until the next collision, that is :)
Ali Adams
6th September 2014, 15:07
And whoever wins the title (I am hoping Rosberg), then his title will not be tainted.
matt90 (@matt90)
6th September 2014, 15:09
Ignoring any other problem with that, it would be important when in the race it happened. If it was right near the start then there is no saying that Hamilton wouldn’t have been able to regain the lead without help anyway.
Jr
6th September 2014, 14:36
Looks like Lewis benefitted from missing most of second practice, denying Rosberg data to analyse, always seemed to have something in hand and delivered it at the right time. Doing his talking on the track!
Ali Adams
6th September 2014, 15:08
Well spotted :)
Manule
6th September 2014, 15:12
Nope, he has benefitted from Rosberg missing out the whole third practice, including simulated qualifying, due to the gearbox issues.
Ali Adams
6th September 2014, 14:44
All Mercedes’ problems can go away if Rosberg comes publicly and says he would let Hamilton through if he was leading to give him back 14 points of the possible 25 or 11 he cost him in Spa had they finished the race multi12 or multi 21 :)
Ricardo Ferreira (@yes-master)
6th September 2014, 14:49
I predict an incident between Nico and Ham in the first chicane…
Kartik
6th September 2014, 14:54
I hope a clean T1 for all the grid , i want an entire race battle as lot of team mates are side by side
Ali Adams
6th September 2014, 15:13
I think if they come near each other, they would both take avoidance action and end up wide on either side of the track and let all the field pass and resume at the tail only and then we would have a epic fight from the back to the podium from both of them, especially if both have the chance to overtake a single car in one move to rival that of Michael and Mika in 1999 (I think).
OmarR-Pepper (@)
6th September 2014, 16:24
@yes-master Bottas for the win!!!!!!!
Nick (@nick-uk)
6th September 2014, 16:30
I don’t think there is a risk of an accident between the Mercs at turn one tomorrow. No doubt Toto has issued a stern ‘no racing/overtaking until lap 2 or 3’ type order (unless the pole sitter has a bad start etc). Based on the fact Rosberg has looked like a puppy who knows he’s done something wrong all weekend I would assume whatever backroom talks Mecedes have had with their drivers has hit home. Then again, just to see the fallout, I would love another incident – so long as Lewis isn’t taken out this time…
timi (@timi)
6th September 2014, 22:28
I can’t see it @yes-master. Nico will be down in 5th.. He only seems to get away well when he starts on pole. More often that not he loses a position or two when he’s 2nd or lower
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
6th September 2014, 14:50
It’s sucks quite a lot that all the team pairs are so far from each other in the time sheets. And the intra-team battle that we all want to watch has been one sided so far.
Still, I hope Monza throws some surprises !
Kartik
6th September 2014, 14:53
Looks like Sebastian really getting on top of the car on one lap pace, 3 straight out qualifications.
Lets see how long he takes to get better on race pace though
OmarR-Pepper (@)
6th September 2014, 16:25
I hope his sliding problems stop NOW
JCost (@jcost)
6th September 2014, 14:58
Lewis managed to put a good banker lap in. It was about time!
Traverse
6th September 2014, 15:35
+1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000!!!!!!!!
Jason (@jason12)
6th September 2014, 17:52
Yeah!
He’s looked faster than Nico all season long.
And without enough of Lewis’ data Nico just gets blown away.
Fletch (@fletchuk)
6th September 2014, 15:42
Is McLaren’s pace real?
Buttocks crossed!
CarlD
6th September 2014, 16:33
It seems to me that to try to achieve the same or better times as his team mate, Nico uses more of the (off)track.
dam00r (@dam00r)
6th September 2014, 16:36
Incredible job by Kobayashi to out-qualify both Marussia drivers. This should be highlighted.
Himmat
6th September 2014, 16:53
For the first time ever, Caterham and Marussia were wihtin a couple of tenths of both Lotuses. Considering Caterham and Lotus are held back by a poor Renault engine, you could add almost half a second to their time. Ferrari maybe 2 tenths.
JackySteeg (@jackysteeg)
6th September 2014, 20:11
So for the first time in months, I predicted Rosberg for pole position instead of Hamilton. That figures, doesn’t it?