Sainz secures his first pole position of the year, Hamilton reaches Q3 for the 300th time and Ocon records his longest Q3-less streak since the start of his career. Here are the facts and statistics from qualifying at the 2023 Italian Grand Prix!
SAINZ TAKES POLE POSITION AT 2023 ITALIAN GRAND PRIX
Carlos Sainz became the fifth different driver to be fastest in qualifying at the 2023 Italian Grand Prix. He recorded the fourth pole position of his career, while this was the third time Sainz has been fastest in qualifying – after the 2022 British Grand Prix and the 2022 United States Grand Prix.
The 2023 Italian Grand Prix marks Ferrari’s 23rd pole position at Monza, extending the record for most team poles at a single circuit.
Sainz secured pole for the 2023 Italian Grand Prix by 0.013 seconds, which is the smallest margin pole has been taken by at Monza since Kimi Raikkonen took pole by 0.002 seconds in 2006.
THE TOP 10
Max Verstappen equalled his best Italian Grand Prix qualifying result with second place. He qualified on the front row for the ninth consecutive race.
While Carlos Sainz took pole position for the 2023 Italian Grand Prix, Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc qualified third fastest. It’s the second year in a row that Ferrari have qualified first and third at Monza – though last year their drivers were reversed.
George Russell was fourth fastest in Q3, recording his best Italian Grand Prix qualifying result to date. His previous best was sixth, recorded last year.
With sixth place in qualifying, Alex Albon maintained his 100% Q3 appearance record at the Italian Grand Prix. Oscar Piastri joined him in the club. Sebastien Bourdais is the only other driver to have reached Q3 on every appearance at Monza.
Albon recorded Williams’ first Q3 appearance at the Italian Grand Prix since 2018. Sixth is Williams’ best qualifying result at Monza since Lance Stroll qualified fourth in 2017.
Albon qualified in the top six at consecutive races for the first time since the 2020 Turkish and Bahrain Grands Prix.
Setting the seventh fastest time in Q3, Oscar Piastri out-qualified his team-mate for the third time in his career.
Lewis Hamilton became the first driver to record 300 Q3 appearances in Formula 1.
With eighth place, Hamilton recorded his worst Italian Grand Prix qualifying result since qualifying 12th in 2013. It also marked the Mercedes team’s worst Monza qualifying result since then.
Lando Norris qualified ninth – his worst Italian Grand Prix qualifying result since missing out on Q3 in 2019.
Fernando Alonso maintained his record of qualifying in the top ten at every race in the 2023 season – but recorded his worst qualifying result of the year to date with tenth place. This is the second consecutive season in which Alonso has qualified tenth at Monza.
This was the Silverstone-based team’s first Q3 appearance at the Italian Grand Prix since 2020.
OUT IN Q2
Liam Lawson reached Q2 for the first time in his Formula 1 career. Yuki Tsunoda also reached Q2, making this the first time since the Spanish Grand Prix that neither AlphaTauri driver was eliminated in Q1.
With Tsunoda qualifying 11th and Lawson 12th, the Red Bull junior team saw both their cars qualify in the top 12 at Monza for only the fourth time in their history. However, this was the first time since 2019 that neither of the team’s drivers reached Q2.
Qualifying 13th, Nico Hulkenberg recorded the Haas team’s best Italian Grand Prix qualifying result since Kevin Magnussen qualified 12th in 2019.
Valtteri Bottas set the 14th fastest time in Q2 at the 2023 Italian Grand Prix. It’s his worst qualifying result at Monza since qualifying 18th in his maiden season.
OUT IN Q1
Both Alpine drivers were eliminated in Q1. This was the team’s first double Q1 exit under their Alpine guise. They last saw both cars out in Q1 at the 2016 Singapore Grand Prix as Renault.
With both Alpines out in Q1, this is the first time that the Enstone-based team has failed to reach Q3 at four consecutive races since they failed to reach Q3 with either car at 26 consecutive races between the 2015 United States Grand Prix and the 2017 Australian Grand Prix.
Pierre Gasly recorded his first Monza Q1 exit, while team-mate Esteban Ocon recorded his first Q1 exit at the Italian Grand Prix since his first appearance in 2016. 18th is Ocon’s worst qualifying result of the season to date.
Ocon failed to reach Q3 for the sixth consecutive race. It’s his longest streak without a Q3 appearance since he failed to qualify in the top ten on any of his first 12 Formula 1 appearances.
Qualifying 19th, Kevin Magnussen recorded his fourth Q1 exit at the Italian Grand Prix. He equalled the record for most Q1 eliminations at Monza. Marcus Ericsson, Romain Grosjean, Timo Glock and Vitantonio Liuzzi were also eliminated in Q1 four times here.
Magnussen qualified 19th at Monza for the second year in a row.
Setting the slowest qualifying lap time, Lance Stroll was eliminated in Q1 for the second successive year at the Italian Grand Prix. Stroll’s previous worst qualifying effort at Monza was 18th, last year.
Stroll recorded his team’s worst qualifying result at Monza since 2014, when Nico Hulkenberg failed to set a lap time with Force India.
