Lewis Hamilton took his second pole position of the season in the qualifying session at Monza, but most of the attention went to second place on the grid, which was secured by Force India’s Adrian Sutil, and had he not made a small mistake in his final lap, he could well have been at the front.
In Q1,it became clear that the Toyota engine was not coping with the rigours of Spa, as Alguersuari, Buemi, Rosberg, Nakajima and Glock went out, the only real surprise there being Rosberg. There may yet be an issue with Buemi being impeded by Hamilton on his final flying lap, but whether the stewards will do anything given that Buemi probably wouldn’t make Q2 anyway remains to be seen. It provided the highlight of the session for me though, with another classic David Coulthard/Eddie Jordan verbal scrap developing over whether the McLaren team should have told Hamilton to move.
The big story of Q2 was Giancarlo Fisichella, who appeared to be struggling with the brakes in his Ferrari. BMW also proved that the Toyotas were not the only engines with problems, as both their cars were forced to pull off track within minutes due to engine issues. Heidfeld, Fisichella, Kubica, Grosjean and Trulli were out.
Into Q3 the attention switched back to Force India, as they faced the possibility of the second pole in a row. Sutil was competitive throughout, whilst the Red Bulls of Vettel and Webber were less so. The Brawns of Button and Barrichello were fast but not outstandingly so. Ross Brawn and Jenson Button stated afterwards that they were very happy with their grid slots, as they are running very long first stint one stop strategies. Until the weights are published later, we won’t know what anyone else is doing, but I suspect Hamilton is light, and Raikkonen may be in with a good chance. Brawn clearly believe they can get on the podium, and I have to hope that Webber and Alonso are also heavy.
Pos Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:23.375 1:22.973 1:24.066 2. Sutil Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:23.576 1:23.070 1:24.261 3. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:23.349 1:23.426 1:24.523 4. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:23.515 1:23.528 1:24.845 5. Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes (B) 1:23.483 1:22.976 1:25.015 6. Button Brawn-Mercedes (B) 1:23.403 1:22.955 1:25.030 7. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:23.578 1:23.207 1:25.043 8. Alonso Renault (B) 1:23.708 1:23.497 1:25.072 9. Vettel Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:23.558 1:23.545 1:25.180 10. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:23.755 1:23.273 1:25.314 11. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:24.014 1:23.611 12. Grosjean Renault (B) 1:23.975 1:23.728 13. Kubica BMW-Sauber (B) 1:24.001 1:23.866 14. Fisichella Ferrari (B) 1:23.828 1:23.901 15. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber (B) 1:23.584 1:24.275 16. Glock Toyota (B) 1:24.036 17. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:24.074 18. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:24.121 19. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:24.220 20. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:24.951
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