Italy GP Qualifying and Sprint Report

Qualifying was fairly interesting this race.  Both Williams were out in the first session...or were they?  This is a track where the stewards watch track limits carefully.  Russell was happy with P16 as he felt they had a good car for the race, however Tsunoda had his time deleted so suddenly Russell was able to claim P15.

The slow laps came in to try and be the last driver across the line as the session came to a close.  Not quite the disaster of previous meets here though.  The world champions Vettel and Alonso both came in ahead of their team mates, two by two.  Perez could only manage 10th, with Verstappen in 4th.  Does a track that favours the Mercedes help keep the championship in the balance?

It seems a shame that this is only qualifying for the sprint.  With Bottas on pole (although with a grid penalty to come), McLaren showing strong and Gasly starting well in his Italian car, it could be a good race.  The Tfosi will be hoping that Ferrari will do well in the sprint.

However, Saturday dawned and Sainz crashed in the morning and LeClerc fell ill.  The Ferrari resurgence would have to wait.  On to the sprint...

The first corner was all action...the McLarens made an awesome start, up to 3 and 4, Gasly maintained his position but clipped his wing on one of the McLarens, it ended up under his tires and sent him off the track spectacularly.  Hamilton got bogged down off the start and lost four places.  Tsunoda and Kubica (standing in for Co-viddy Kimi) came together, with Tsunoda coming in to the pits to get a new front wing for his Alpha Tauri.  Kubica, wise old man that he is, managed to get out of the gravel trap and back into the race.  Other bad starts came from George Russell, who went to the back of the grid.

Giovinnazi did an excellent job of keeping Perez in his Red Bull behind him, as one of the few drivers unsigned for next year, it's a good advertisement.

Nobody ended up at the back of the grid (other than Gasly) who wouldn't have been there otherwise.  The McLarens did very well out of the sprint format, finishing 3rd and 4th, choosing the soft tires to their advantage.   Ricciardo finished in front of his team mate, which was much needed and will hopefully give him the confidence boost he needs to push.  Bottas (the squirrel killer) triumphed to keep his first place and get some points.  The biggest loser was Hamilton.

And let's mentioned the gangsta rapper over-sized medals.  And the interviews on the back of a truck.