Mercedes
FP3 went well for Mercedes, leaving Russell as the heavy favourite for pole. It certainly looked like his chances were good midway through Qualifying, when Ferrari’s pace fell away. With Antonelli towing his team mate, too, pole seemed nailed on – but for some late heroics from Alpine. Russell later rued a “messy” final lap, where he wound up a little too close to Verstappen and thus had some dirty air to contend with. But starting second is still a strong result, especially with his team mate and championship rival down the back.
Antonelli had a grid drop for taking on a raft of new power unit components, but his pace looked strong so he will be hoping for a good recovery drive in the race.
Kimi Antonelli, 7th, 1:22.093
“It was a very strange feeling coming into Qualifying knowing I would serve a penalty for the race. Naturally, I wish I was fighting for pole position and starting at the front this weekend, but that’s not the situation we’re in. I still had a job to do for the team and to help George though, so I tried my best and I’m glad I could do that today.
“Tomorrow is all about enjoying the race and making the most of every opportunity. It’s a track where you can have a lot of fun; there should be plenty of chances to gain positions, so hopefully we can make good progress. The key will be getting a clean start, staying out of trouble, clearing the traffic and then chasing down the cars ahead.”
George Russell, 2nd, 1:21.846
“Pole position was within reach today. The final run was a bit messy on our side, and we perhaps didn’t make life as straightforward for ourselves as we could have. Kimi did a great job helping me throughout and gave me a useful slipstream when I needed it but on the final push lap, Max complicated things slightly for us through Parabolica; that’s all part of racing though.
“That said, huge congratulations to Pierre. We didn’t expect that level of pace from him today, so it was a surprise, but he did an outstanding job. He’s a great person, a great driver, and fully deserves that result.
“Starting P2 still puts us in a strong position for tomorrow. I’ve been right at the front in every session this weekend, so I’m feeling good about both myself and the car. Around a circuit like Monza, starting position isn’t everything because there are genuine overtaking opportunities. The key will be getting a clean start and staying out of trouble on the first lap. From there we’ll focus on our own race and hopefully give ourselves a good shot at victory.”
Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
“Whoever ends up on pole position deserves to be there because they have clearly delivered when it mattered most. Congratulations to Pierre (Gasly) and Alpine; they have taken a lot of strides forward as a team recently and did a brilliant job today.
“Our Qualifying wasn’t the most straightforward. We were trying to maximise the tow Kimi could give George, but we were tripped up by cars ahead. We could have maybe done something different, but this is all part of the games that are played at tracks like Monza.
“The most important takeaway for us is that we have a genuinely quick car. The pace has been there throughout the weekend and that is encouraging. At the same time, the Ferraris are extremely close and have looked competitive all weekend in front of their home crowd. McLaren and Red Bull have also been fast, plus we have Gasly starting ahead of us, so we know we need to get every detail right if we are to come away from tomorrow with another good result.”
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director
“Today’s Qualifying was not our cleanest session. From yesterday’s running we expected it to be tight, but there proved to be even more contenders than we thought for pole. It was of course a bit of a surprise to be out qualified by Pierre Gasly in the Alpine, but they did a great job and deserve to be starting P1.
“Given Kimi carries a power unit penalty into tomorrow’s race, we decided that it was the best decision to use him to give George a tow. That proved useful for George’s laps but did make Kimi’s life a harder as all his new tyre runs were in clear air. Even so, his pace was strong given the tow provided a good few tenths benefit.
“George had a tricky session with persistent brake locking that hadn’t been a problem in FP3 but did seem to be causing him few issues from the start of Qualifying. We did what we could to manage that with settings but even so, it made it difficult on the big stops in the chicanes. We were very much in fight for pole until the final run, but we got bunched up opening the lap and that meant George started too close to Verstappen. Even with that, he did a great job to improve his time, but it wasn’t quite enough to take P1.
“We’re still in a strong position for the race tomorrow and it will be interesting from a strategy point of view with George at the front and Kimi fighting from the back. George is in a great position to fight for the win and if Kimi’s pace is as strong as it looked on Friday, we’d hope that getting him into the higher points-scoring positions isn’t out of the question.”