Lewis Hamilton took pole position for the Italian Grand Prix in treacherous wet weather conditions at Monza on Saturday, which saw qualifying delayed by two and a half hours.
In a thrilling climax to the problematic session, Hamilton went on to take his 59th career pole. It's a new Formula 1 record for the Mercedes driver, surpassing the previous achievement of Michael Schumacher.
Hamilton was pressed hard in Q3 by the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo who finished second and third. Sadly, both drivers will drop down the grid for Sunday's race due to various power unit penalties.
Williams' Lance Stroll put in a fabulous performance to qualify in fourth, which will be converted to a front row start for the race. That will make him the youngest driver in Formula 1 to do so, 23 days younger than Verstappen was at Spa in 2016.
Force India's Esteban Ocon also impressed with fifth place, meaning he will start on the second row alongside Valtteri Bottas. But Ferrari struggled in the conditions, with Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel never looking on the pace in the final round.
Grosjean accident triggers lengthy red flag stoppage
The rain that had beset morning practice at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza picked up in intensity again as qualifying got underway. Hamilton recorded the first timed lap of Q1 and clocked in at 1:40.128s, two seconds clear of Vettel and Haas' Romain Grosjean.
Immediately after completing his flying lap, Grosjean aquaplaned into a spin on the pit straight. He suffered a glancing blow with the barriers before coming to a halt at entrance to the chicane.
Yellow flags were quickly exchanged for red with 13 and a half minutes remaining on the first round clock. The rain eventually abated, the track was drained and qualifying was finally able to resume.
Bottas sets the pace in Q1 when qualifying resumes
Drivers wasted no time getting back out on track. With a drier line soon developing, no one could afford to rest on their laurels as lap times tumbled.
Fernando Alonso was the first driver to switch to intermediate tyres. He was quickly followed by Vettel. Although Vettel improved to third place behind the two Mercedes drivers, it proved to be a shade premature for the inters. Even so, Bottas set the fastest time of of the session with a lap of 1:35.716s on his final run as the chequered flag came out.
Haas F1's Kevin Magnussen missed out on progressing by seven tenths. Also out at the end of Q1 were Renault's Jolyon Palmer and the Saubers of Marcus Ericsson and Pascal Wehrlein. Grosjean was unable to take part in the resumed session and ended up bottom of the timing screens.
Hamilton masters see-saw conditions in Q2
A renewed threat of rain resulted in a mix of full wet and intermediate tyre strategies at the start of Q2. There were early spins at the Parabolica for Williams' Felipe Massa and McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne.
It took Hamilton some time to get heat into his inters, but he eventually went top with a lap of 1:34.660s. It was by some way the best of the day so far. He finished the session ahead of Bottas, Verstappen, Vettel and Stroll.
A late improvement for Vandoorne bumped Force India's Sergio Perez out of the top ten. Also failing to progress were Renault's Nico Hulkenberg, McLaren's Fernando Alonso and the two Toro Rossos of Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz.
Stroll and Ocon shine as rain returns for pole shootout
More rain started to fall as Q3 got underway. Those drivers who initially came out on intermediates, including Hamilton and Bottas, were forced to rethink their plans.
Those who had started the session on full wets had the early advantage, Verstappen going top early ahead of Ricciardo. Hamilton improved on their times but was pushed back to third before his final effort of 1:35.554s over a second faster than his rivals.
His team mate Bottas was unable to match that effort and found himself demoted to sixth, behind hugely impressive efforts from Stroll and Ocon. The two Ferraris also struggled in the conditions, Raikkonen down in seventh and Vettel eighth ahead of Felipe Massa and Vandoorne.
Italian Grand Prix - Qualifying results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:36.009s | 1:34.660s | 1:35.554s |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:37.344s | 1:36.113s | 1:36.702s |
| 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:38.304s | 1:37.313s | 1:36.841s |
| 4 | Lance Stroll | Williams | 1:37.653s | 1:37.002s | 1:37.032s |
| 5 | Esteban Ocon | Force India | 1:38.775s | 1:37.580s | 1:37.719s |
| 6 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:35.716s | 1:35.396s | 1:37.833s |
| 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:38.235s | 1:37.031s | 1:37.987s |
| 8 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:37.198s | 1:36.223s | 1:38.064s |
| 9 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:38.338s | 1:37.456s | 1:38.251s |
| 10 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | 1:38.767s | 1:37.471s | 1:39.157s |
| 11 | Sergio Pérez | Force India | 1:38.511s | 1:37.582s | |
| 12 | Nico Hülkenberg | Renault | 1:39.242s | 1:38.059s | |
| 13 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1:39.134s | 1:38.202s | |
| 14 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1:39.183s | 1:38.245s | |
| 15 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:39.788s | 1:38.526s | |
| 16 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1:40.489s | ||
| 17 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1:40.646s | ||
| 18 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1:41.732s | ||
| 19 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber | 1:41.875s | ||
| 20 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 1:43.355s |
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