Bottas Wins Italian Grand Prix Pole Sprint Race

Bottas (Source: Antara)

JAKARTA - Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas on Friday, September 10, took pole position for the sprint race ahead of the Italian Grand Prix at the Monza Circuit.

Bottas' final lap in Q3 saw the Finn become the fastest qualifying sprint racer with a record of 1:19,555, shifting teammate Lewis Hamilton to second with a margin of 0.096 seconds to bring Mercedes to the front row.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen has not been able to beat the Silver Arrow duo since FP1 on Friday and had to settle for starting from P3 after 0.411 seconds, while Lando Norris completed the second row with his McLaren, according to the official Formula 1 website.

"It's nice when you have a good lap, in the end, it's quite a tow", said Bottas, who benefited from driving behind another car to gain extra speed that day.

"I feel good, relaxed and everything about the future has been resolved", said the driver who will leave for Alfa Romeo next year.

"The car feels good, focus on the sprint race tomorrow, try to get the maximum points and we'll see what we can do on Sunday".

Bottas will be penalized for Sunday's race after changing the power unit component. So, in whatever position he finishes in the sprint race later, the Finnish driver will start the race on Sunday from the last.

Norris' teammate Daniel Ricciardo completes the top five and will start ahead of last year's Italian Grand Prix winner Pierre Gasly of the AlphaTauri team.

Ferrari duo Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc occupy the third row in P7 and P8, while Sergio Perez has not been able to match the speed of his Red Bull teammates and will start from P9 in front of Antonio Giovinazzi's Alfa Romeo.

The duo of Aston Martin, Sebastian Vettel, and Lance Stroll were eliminated in Q2, as well as Alpine team pair Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon failed to break into the top ten.

Verstappen heads to Italy with a three-point lead over Hamilton in the drivers' standings following victory at home to Zandvoort last weekend.

However, Red Bull hasn't won at Monza since 2013. F1 has resumed the sprint race at Monza after the new format debuted at Silverstone. Thus, the qualification will be held on Friday to determine the starting position for the sprint race on the following day.

Points are awarded to the top three riders in the sprint race while finishing in Saturday's short race determines the Grand Prix grid the following day.

The slipstream will play an important role on a very sensitive circuit with the engine power and low downforce helping the car go at full speed for most of the lap.

With points awarded to drivers who finish in the top three in the sprint race, the title race can be even if Lewis Hamilton takes pole position while Verstappen fails to make it into the top three.

Hamilton last year took pole at Monza, having scored the fastest lap of all time in F1 as Mercedes secured the front two rows, while Verstappen was only fifth.

Verstappen feels Monza is not a friendly track for Red Bull, but he is optimistic that it can be a nuisance to his rivals in the race later.

"I'm quite happy to finish third. In the next race we hope to be tighter", said Verstappen.

Italian Grand Prix sprint race qualifying results:

1 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team 1:19,555

2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team 1:19,651

3 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:19,966

4 Lando Norris McLaren F1 Team 1:19,989

5 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren F1 Team 1:19,995

6 Pierre Gasly Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda 1:20,260

7 Carlos Sainz Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow 1:20,462

8 Charles Leclerc Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow 1:20,510

9 Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing 1:20,611

10 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen 1:20,808

11 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team

12 Lance Stroll Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team

13 Fernando Alonso Alpine F1 Team

14 Esteban Ocon Alpine F1 Team

15 George Russell Williams Racing

16 Nicholas Latifi Williams Racing

17 Yuki Tsunoda Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda

18 Mick Schumacher Uralkali Haas F1 Team

19 Robert Kubica Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen

20 Nikita Mazepin Uralkali Haas F1 Team