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reQualifying for the Italian Grand Prix came to an end for Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari with the dreaded miserable result in the first qualifying stage. The four-time Formula 1 world champion only achieved the seventeenth fastest time on the high-speed track at the Parque Real de Monza, losing around 4 hundredths of a second to jump to the second part of qualifying. In addition to a lack of power compared to the competition, Vettel suffered Saturday afternoon from his team’s failed strategy, which sent him to the last lap too early. So Vettel drove a group of six cars, in front of him, the motorized Williams even weaker, with no view of the wake that is important on the long straights of the field.
“The plan was a clean round. This is not functional. Too many cars in one place that have also passed each other, chaos, ”Vettel said later. His teammate Charles Leclerc benefited from the better management of his departure and made the jump to another attempt. Then the preliminaries for the proud Scuderia’s 999th Grand Prix came to an end for the Monegas as well: 13th place, nothing short of a debacle, but one to be expected, no later than after the trip to High Fens at the weekend. past. At the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, however, the two Ferrari drivers still start from 13th (Leclerc) and 14th (Vettel). In Monza things continued to decline. For the first time since 1984, both Ferrari drivers lost a place in the top ten. “That was nothing today,” Vettel said. “This is not about Monza,” said Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mekies. “It’s about finding your way back. Ferrari got lost, not just at Monza, but on the track, which like no other power engine, or lack thereof, reveals that the disorientation of the most famous team on the field was even more apparent.
In addition to pole position, he could also look forward to new records: Lewis Hamilton in a Mercedes.
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Image: Reuters
As expected, Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas secured the best starting positions for Sunday’s race in the park (3.10 pm on the FAZ live ticker in Formula 1 and on RTL and Sky). Hamilton set the fastest time, beating his teammate by 69 thousandths of a second. “It wasn’t bad,” Hamilton said. “I’m glad I had a clean lap.”
The third was surprisingly Renault driver Carlos Sainz, who will replace Vettel at Ferrari next season. Only in fourth place came Max Verstappen at Red Bull, who was more than 0.9 seconds slower than Hamilton. The second best team on the field is still far behind Mercedes, although this Saturday the use of “party mode” is prohibited for the first time in tuning the engine, which Red Bull had claimed in particular because of its own inferiority to Mercedes . He was “incredibly happy” with the result, said Mercedes team boss Wolff, who despite the interference with engine regulations, had brought in “a lot of money.”
“Blocks me all the time, idiot”
The closing minutes of the first part of qualifying caused great excitement even for the oldest driver on the field, Finn Kimi Räikkönen. Blocked several times by the Frenchman Esteban Ocon and quite dangerously, Raikkonen scolded his Alfa Romeo crew over the radio: “He blocks me all the time, you idiot.” “Yes, yes, we see it,” received the Finn in response. .
Minutes later, Raikkonen lost his two-year lap record on the traditional Lombardy track. At the time, Ferrari’s strategy had favored Raikkonen rather than Vettel in the wake and led him to pole position, a decision that had no negligible influence on Vettel’s prospects for a world title with Ferrari. In the second qualifying stage, Lewis Hamilton broke Raikkonen’s record of 1: 19,119 minutes for the first time for the 5,793-kilometer route at the Autodromo Nazionale. After all, he set a new best time of 1: 18.887 at an average speed of 264.362 km / h; There hasn’t been a faster lap in 70 years of Formula 1. For Hamilton it is seventh pole position at Monza, 94 of his career – both record numbers.
