Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/869387
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 3 SEPTEMBER 2017 49 MERCEDES' Lewis Hamilton has more poles than any man in his- tory – 69 – after topping a wet and rain-disrupted qualifying session in Monza yesterday. Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo finished second and third, but af- ter grid penalties for both, Wil- liams rookie Lance Stroll will start the race alongside Hamilton on the front row. Fifth fastest was Force India's Es- teban Ocon, ahead of Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas and the Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel. Williams' Felipe Massa and McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne com- pleted the top ten. The session initially started on time, but as the rain worsened Haas's Romain Grosjean aquaplaned off on the main straight, bringing out the red flags just four minutes in. The Frenchman was unhurt, and wheel rims aside, damage to his car was light, but his afternoon's work was over. Two hours and 35 minutes later, conditions were finally adjudged to be safe to resume the remaining 13 minutes and 31 seconds of Q1. Ver- stappen reported: "It's better than when we started qualifying," but had been happy to run much sooner. Hamilton and Bottas were fastest on wets with 1m 36.009s and 1m 36.582s right into the dying mo- ments, when the Finn went faster after switching to intermediates, with 1m 35.716s. Vettel was third on inters, in 1m 37.198s. Raikkonen had a bit of a drama with a brake fire, and a near miss when his crew almost released him into the path of one of the Force In- dias as the latter swept into its space immediately in front of the Ferrari pit. Further down, Carlos Sainz made Q2 with 1m 39.788s for Toro Rosso, leaving Haas's Kevin Magnussen 16th with a last-moment 1m 40.489s on inters, ahead of Renault's Jolyon Palmer on 1m 40.646s on wets, the Saubers of Marcus Ericsson and Pascal Wehrlein on 1m 41.732s and 1m 41.875s, and Grosjean in 20th on the strength of his originally third- fastest lap of 1m 43.355s. There was a threat of further rain at the start of Q2, so everybody was in a rush to get a time in before con- ditions changed again. All the quick times came on in- ters, with Hamilton improving fur- ther right at the end to stay on top with 1m 34.660s, despite some rain out on the back straight. Bottas also went quicker to 1m 35.396s as Ver- stappen did 1m 36.113s to beat Vet- tel's 1m 36.223s set quite early on. The biggest improver was Stroll who jumped from nowhere to fifth, ahead of Raikkonen, Ricciardo and Massa. Vandoorne bumped Sergio Perez right at the end, the Mexican missing out on 10th place by two thousandths of a second to Force In- dia team mate Esteban Ocon. Behind the Force India's 1m 37.582s, Renault's Nico Hulken- berg was 12th on 1m 38.082s, with Fernando Alonso only running at the end to record 1m 38.202s for McLaren. That left the Toro Rossos 14th and 15th, with Daniil Kvyat on 1m 38.245s and Carlos Sainz on 1m 38.526s. Could Ferrari beat Mercedes to the pole in Q3, giving the soaked spectators something to cheer, or would Hamilton set a new all-time record of 69? The rain had come back, so again there were some brave tyre choices and some initially still went for in- termediates – notably Ferrari and Mercedes – as the full wets made a comeback. But the rain was by now so heavy that surely the green-band- ed rubber was a mistake. This was one of those sessions when times were improving contin- ually as conditions did. Ocon, Ver- stappen and Hamilton all had turns at the top, but right at the end Mer- cedes pitted both their drivers for fresh wets. That was just as well, as Verstappen lapped in 1m 36.702s to beat Hamilton's mark of 1m 36.913s. Team mate Ricciardo was also fast with 1m 36.841s, temporarily put- ting red Bull 1-2. But right at the end the triple champion put an- other super-neat lap together, even though he said conditions did not feel as good, and when he stopped the clocks with 1m 35.554s a sensa- tional lap earned him a new record of 69 pole positions. Stroll did a superb job to put his Williams fourth on 1m 37.032s, ahead of the also impressive Ocon on 1m 37.719s. Bottas didn't get his run on new wets, so was sixth with 1m 37.833s, while Ferrari had a sim- ply disastrous session with Raik- konen only seventh on 1m 37.987s and Vettel eighth after failing to better 1m 38.064s. Massa was ninth on 1m 38.251s, and Vandoorne completed the top 10 with 1m 39.157s. Both Red Bulls, of course, have heavy grid penalties for using addi- tional power unit elements and will thus start Sunday's race from the back of the field – likewise Hulk- enberg, Palmer, Alonso and Sainz. That at least throws Ferrari a lifeline as their drivers will move up two places apiece. And Stroll will start from the front row – the youngest driver to do so in history and the first Canadian in 19 years. Sport FORMULA 1 Qualifying results - 2017 Italian Formula 1 Grand Prix Pos. Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Laps 1. L. Hamilton Mercedes 01:36.009 01:34.660 01:35.554 29 2. M. Verstappen Red Bull 01:37.344 01:36.113 01:36.702 29 3. D. Ricciardo Red Bull 01:38.304 01:37.313 01:36.841 26 4. L. Stroll Williams 01:37.653 01:37.002 01:37.032 27 5. E. Ocon Force India 01:38.775 01:37.580 01:37.719 29 6. V. Bottas Mercedes 01:35.716 01:35.396 01:37.833 29 7. K. Räikkönen Ferrari 01:38.235 01:37.031 01:37.987 30 8. S. Vettel Ferrari 01:37.198 01:36.223 01:38.064 28 9. F. Massa Williams 01:38.338 01:37.456 01:38.251 27 10. S. Vandoorne McLaren 01:38.767 01:37.471 01:39.157 25 11. S. Pérez Force India 01:38.511 01:37.582 19 12. N. Hulkenberg Renault 01:39.242 01:38.059 20 13. F. Alonso McLaren 01:39.134 01:38.202 11 14. D. Kvyat Toro Rosso 01:39.183 01:38.245 21 15. C. Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso 01:39.788 01:38.526 21 16. K. Magnussen Haas 01:40.489 12 17. J. Palmer Renault 01:40.646 10 18. M. Ericsson Sauber 01:41.732 11 19. P. Wehrlein Sauber 01:41.875 9 20. R. Grosjean Haas 01:43.355 3 Hamilton takes pole record, Stroll to start second Lewis Hamilton