2018 Italian F1 Grand Prix: Kimi Raikkonen takes pole in Monza 28 races later, Sainz best Spaniard in seventh

Double for Ferrari at Monza in qualifying for the 2018 Italian F1 Grand Prix. The drivers of the Italian team had been the fastest in free practice and confirmed their standing on Saturday afternoon, even though Lewis Hamilton twice set the circuit record at the track known as the Magic Circuit.

It has been a magical day for Ferrari and especially for Kimi Raikkonen. It has been no less than 28 grands prix since the last time the Finnish driver took a pole position, and he does so by setting the new track record, a time of 1:19.119 that goes down in history and will be hard to beat in future editions of the Italian GP.

Raikkonen is fully involved in the battle between Vettel and Hamilton, and it seems his teammate was not too pleased, judging by his first radio impressions. In the end, Kimi’s decision to follow his teammate in the slipstream has proven to be the better option. Even so, Vettel, without a slipstream, unlike Hamilton who was following Bottas, managed to improve on the Briton’s time.

Good work from the Spanish drivers in Monza. Carlos Sainz made it into Q3 and achieved the seventh-best time, behind Bottas (fourth), Verstappen (fifth) and Grosjean (sixth), and ahead of Ocon, Gasly and Stroll (a great surprise to see the Canadian in Q3). Alonso did not get past Q2, finishing thirteenth, but that is already an achievement given what was seen in practice, and proof of this is that Vandoorne posted the worst time of the day.

Even so, the last places on the starting grid will go to two drivers who, on paper, should be ahead: Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg. Both the Red Bull driver and the Renault driver have been penalised for changing parts on their cars, not to mention that the German was already carrying a ten-place grid penalty for causing chaos at the start of the 2018 Belgian GP a week ago.

The full timing table for this qualifying session of the 2018 Italian F1 Grand Prix was as follows: