Carlos Sainz took pole position in an exciting qualifying session. Despite not reaching the top spot, ‘Czech’ he showed a good performance on the Monza track, allowing him to secure a place on the third row of the start for Sunday’s race.
After an incident in third free practice involving problems with his car’s power unit, the Red Bull team managed to repair it in time for qualifying. At this Italian Grand Prix, a new format was implemented regarding tires, where in the first round (Q1) all drivers had to use the hard compound.
The Red Bull team wasted no time sending its drivers onto the track quickly to avoid the typical traffic at Monza. ‘Checo’ Pérez showed that he is at a level close to that of his teammate Max Verstappen, achieving competitive times. On his first attempt, he moved into third place just a tenth behind Verstappen and, on his second attempt, he posted a time of 1:21.911, allowing him to advance to the second round (Q2).
In Q2, the drivers used medium tires as per the new qualifying format. Despite the appearance of the Ferrari, ‘Checo’ Pérez left a good impression. In his first stint, he was in fifth place, just over four tenths behind Carlos Sainz, which brought him to the pits to attempt an additional fastest lap.
In the decisive stage (Q3), ‘Checo’ Pérez once again ranked outside the top three places. During the first stint, the two Red Bull drivers went out together, with Perez trailing Verstappen, in what initially appeared to be an attempt to gain a slipstream, though this ultimately fell through. ‘Checo’ Pérez achieved sixth place in this round.
On his second fastest lap attempt, Pérez went clear of Max Verstappen, and although Carlos Sainz managed to snatch pole position from Verstappen, Pérez remained in fifth with a time of 1:20.688, being dropped by George Russell. From this position, ‘Checo’ Pérez will seek to climb at least two places to reach the podium in Monza in what promises to be an exciting race on Sunday.
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