5 hours ago
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Key events
The only other time this century that there has been a red flag at Monza? In 2020, where the Italian Grand Prix was won by Pierre Gasly … but only after Charles Leclerc cannoned into the wall at Parabolica, with the race then brought to a halt. Spooky!
The race will resume at 2.39pm BST.
All the chaos at the front of the race is absolutely perfect for Antonelli – the championship leader rose from the back of the grid to 12th in those opening laps. The Italian could now target the podium, so something for the home crowd to cheer after a disastrous opening for Ferrari.
Tyre update: Russell will resume with a new set of mediums. Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and the McLarens all have a new set of softs.
Looks like we are due to resume racing in about 10 minutes. The wrecked Ferrari has been recovered but the tyre barrier is still being rebuilt.
Lots of chatter about whether Leclerc was entitled to hold his line on that opening corner, with Hamilton attempting to nip up the inside. Leclerc did give Hamilton room, but the Brit then found himself on the outside going into the next corner of the chicane, and sort of snookered himself as he ran out of room. Hamilton was forced onto the gravel and lost several places. We heard over the Ferrari radio that he was not happy with Leclerc, but I think the latter had the racing line to justify his behaviour, even if it wasn’t very helpful from a team point of view.
Leclerc’s Ferrari is absolutely wrecked, the front right wheel is hanging off. Replays from the front of Piastri’s car show that Leclerc successfully defended his position against the McLaren. It looked like Leclerc’s front left wheel slipped off the track onto the white line and the Ferrari completely lost traction and span out of control into the tyre barrier. There are lots of drivers that come off the tarmac, and it does seem a mystery as to why he lost so much traction. Verstappen in front of Leclerc, for example, was even wider than the Ferrari man.
Here are the current standings, for when the race resumes.
1. George Russell (Mercedes)
2. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
3. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
4. Franco Colapinto (Alpine)
5. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
Lewis Hamilton, the only remaining Ferrari at Monza, is down to eighth. The Brit was left complaining to his team after that opening corner, where Leclerc defended the inside. “Charles pushed me off!”, cried Hamilton over the team radio.
Leclerc walks away
Delighted to say that it looks like Leclerc is OK. He is able to walk away from the Ferrari, which is left crumpled and steaming at the barrier. Leclerc looks visibly upset but the important thing is that he is OK.
Red flag is deployed, which means the barrier will have to be rebuilt and the Ferrari recovered from the track. All other cars will go back to the pit-lane, where they will be allowed to change their tyres. I can’t imagine that many will opt for the softs, after a disastrous start to this home grand prix for both Ferraris.
Leclerc crashes out! Red flag deployed!
Lap 3: A dramatic crash as Leclerc careers off the track and straight into the tyres! Leclerc went into those barriers at some speed. Piastri was attempting to come up inside the Ferrari and Leclerc skidded badly, sliding sideways at 130mph. Ouch! Let’s hope he is OK!
Russell takes the lead!
Lap 2: Gasly ends the first lap leading but is almost instantly overtaken by Russell as they enter the chicane at the end of the straight!
Bad news for Ferrari, as Verstappen goes past Leclerc to take third!
Lap 1: Gasly gets away well, Russell just behind, Hamilton tries to run up the inside of Leclerc but the latter holds on and the Brit is forced onto the gravel. Hamilton loses three places!
Lights out!
Here we go!
The formation lap is underway. It is 32°C in Monza at the moment, which means it has officially been declared a heat-hazard race.
Hot conditions, hot track. Let’s see how the drivers fare.
Will Gasly hold onto the lead into the first corner? That is the first test for the on-pole Frenchman. He will have Mercedes’ George Russell and the Ferrari duo in his rear-view mirror.
Ferrari are starting on the soft tyres, which means they are aiming for a fast start. Almost everyone else is on the medium to start. This will likely be a one-stop race, with most people expected to move to the hard tyre in that stop, although some are speculating that Ferrari could go from soft to medium.
Monza is F1’s quickest track, the sport’s fastest ever lap was set here by Williams driver Juan Pablo Montoya in 2004 during practice.
Cars go full throttle for 80% of the lap, and hit their Vmax on the circuit’s 1.1km start/finish straight. To give you some idea of Norris’ problems here, cars will brake on that straight from around 218mph/hr to just 43mph/hr before negotiating the tight chicane. This will be the main section for overtaking today.
McLaren’s Lando Norris encountered braking troubles during qualifying. That is a particular problem on this track, with four long straights that are ripe for overtaking. Norris was asked just now if the braking problems had been resolved:
“No, not really,” he said. “That’s just something I have to deal with. I’m going to try and get towards the podium but that’s going to be tough, I think”.
Four-time F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel admitted he was overwhelmed after driving Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari F2002 at Monza as part of a special tribute to the seven-time champion.
Vettel was emotional after hopping out of the car. “I am mixed up in feelings because, on the one hand, it’s such a beautiful car to drive,” said the German. “It’s such a beautiful piece of machinery, but much more, it’s Michael’s car and he is not here today,” Vettel said after climbing out of the F2002. “But I felt him a lot in these laps and I hope you heard him and felt him as well. You know, we used to joke, what if I started to cry or be emotional, that you have some pee-pee in your eyes. I think now I am the one with pee-pee in my eyes.”
Giles Richards’ interview with Kimi Antonelli went live on Friday. Before his home grand prix, our championship leader opened up on his rocky debut season and quest to become the first Italian world champion since 1953.
The last Frenchman to take pole at Monza was Jean Alesi, 29 years ago. Alesi was driving for Benetton, the Enstone-based team that would ultimately become Alpine. The 62-year-old is back at Monza as a guest for the weekend.
Elsewhere in Ferrari/motor sport news … quite the story from the China GT:
British racing driver Ollie Millroy told Loek Hartog he owes him his life after his quick-thinking rival pulled him from a burning car after a huge crash in the first race of the China GT on Saturday.
The incident happened 20 minutes into the Shanghai race when his Ferrari was struck heavily from the side after a collision between two other cars causing it to burst into flames.
The race was red-flagged but, with no safety marshalls having been able to immediately respond, Dutch driver Hartog stopped his car and made an attempt to rescue Millroy from the driver’s side. Having hauled off part of a door, he grabbed a fire extinguisher from a nearby official, doused the flames as best he could and then courageously pulled his stricken rival from the opposite side of the wreck.
Millroy was helped to the side of the track before being taken to hospital, where he is receiving treatment for multiple fractures and a bruised lung. “I owe my life to you,” the 35-year-old Millroy wrote on Instagram. “Loek Hartog stopped instantly with no flag marshals or fire crews in sight, and risked his own life to get me out of the car. I don’t remember anything between 30 seconds before the crash and 1 hour after it, but I will remember his incredible act of bravery for the rest of my life.
“One day I will tell our three kids this story and Loek will be the biggest superhero in history in their eyes too. I’m laying here tonight with 5 broken ribs, broken collar bone, broken hand and finger and a bruised lung, but it could have been much worse. Thank you Loek.”
Here are the latest championship standings:
Drivers’ standings
After Dutch GP and Monaco appeal adjustments
1 Kimi Antonelli 🇮🇹 Mercedes 242pts
2 George Russell 🇬🇧 Mercedes 183
3 Lewis Hamilton 🇬🇧 Ferrari 183
4 Lando Norris 🇬🇧 McLaren 159
5 Charles Leclerc 🇲🇨 Ferrari 155
6 Max Verstappen 🇳🇱 Red Bull 112
7 Oscar Piastri 🇦🇺 McLaren 106
8 Isack Hadjar 🇫🇷 Red Bull 71
9 Liam Lawson 🇳🇿 Racing Bulls 51
10 Pierre Gasly 🇫🇷 Alpine 35
11 Arvid Lindblad 🇬🇧 Racing Bulls 25
12 Franco Colapinto 🇦🇷 Alpine 19
13 Oliver Bearman 🇬🇧 Haas 18
14 Gabriel Bortoleto 🇧🇷 Audi 10
15 Nico Hülkenberg 🇩🇪 Audi 6
16 Carlos Sainz 🇪🇸 Williams 6
17 Alexander Albon 🇹🇭 Williams 5
18 Esteban Ocon 🇫🇷 Haas 3
19 Fernando Alonso 🇪🇸 Aston Martin 3
Yet to score:
Lance Stroll 🇨🇦 Aston Martin
Valtteri Bottas 🇫🇮 Cadillac
Sergio Pérez 🇲🇽 Cadillac
Yuki Tsunoda 🇯🇵 Racing Bulls
Constructors’ standings
After Dutch GP and Monaco appeal adjustments
1 Mercedes 🇩🇪 425pts
2 Ferrari 🇮🇹 338
3 McLaren 🇬🇧 265
4 Red Bull 🇦🇹 189
5 Racing Bulls 🇮🇹 70
6 Alpine 🇫🇷 54
7 Haas 🇺🇸 21
8 Audi 🇩🇪 16
9 Williams 🇬🇧 11
10 Aston Martin 🇬🇧 3
11 Cadillac 🇺🇸 0
Oscar Piastri’s three-place grid penalty for impeding Liam Lawson in qualifying means, it will be an all-red second row as Leclerc and Hamilton have been pushed up to third and fourth respectively (from fourth and fifth). Here’s what Hamilton had to say about his team’s disappointing showing on Saturday:
Preamble
What an intriguing race we have today. In shock events on Saturday, Pierre Gasly claimed his first Formula One pole position at the 190th time of asking.
Monza is, of course, such a storied venue and only around 10 miles from Gasly’s adopted home in Milan, this will be such a special race for him, but the Alpine driver will be under pressure from the off. It should be noted, though, that Gasly’s only F1 victory came at this track six years ago.
Mercedes made an error that day that cost Lewis Hamilton the victory, with the Brit given a penalty for illegally entering the pit lane. Mercedes and an Englishman were again pipped by Gasly on Saturday in qualifying, with George Russell edged out to second place on the grid, six-hundredths of a second behind the Frenchman. Mercedes’ other driver, the championship leader Kimi Antonelli, will start in 20th having taken a full set of new engine components. But it’s a quick, track and both Mercedes and Antonelli will fancy their chances of flying through the field towards the podium.
A preamble on the Italian Grand Prix would not be complete without a mention of Ferrari. Their will be a raucous home crowd for The Prancing Horse and this is a huge opportunity for Hamilton to close the gap on Antonelli at the top of the standings: the seven-time world champion is trails Antonelli by 59 points with 11 races to come and warned Ferrari that the light of at end of tunnel is “getting dimmer”.
It should be a good’un.
Lights out: 2pm BST.
Italian F1 GP qualifying results
1 Pierre Gasly 🇫🇷 Alpine 1:21.876
2 George Russell 🇬🇧 Mercedes 1:21.846
†3 Oscar Piastri 🇦🇺 McLaren 1:21.966
4 Charles Leclerc 🇲🇨 Ferrari 1:22.004
5 Lewis Hamilton 🇬🇧 Ferrari 1:22.011
6 Max Verstappen 🇳🇱 Red Bull 1:22.070
*7 Kimi Antonelli 🇮🇹 Mercedes 1:22.093
8 Franco Colapinto 🇦🇷 Alpine 1:22.220
9 Lando Norris 🇬🇧 McLaren 1:22.256
10 Arvid Lindblad 🇬🇧 Racing Bulls 1:22.286
Q2 eliminations
11 Gabriel Bortoleto 🇧🇷 Audi 1:22.517
12 Oliver Bearman 🇬🇧 Haas 1:22.756
13 Nico Hülkenberg 🇩🇪 Audi 1:22.779
*††14 Liam Lawson 🇫🇷 Red Bull 1:22.821
15 Carlos Sainz 🇪🇸 Williams 1:23.453
16 Esteban Ocon 🇫🇷 Haas 1:23.454
Q1 eliminations
17 Yuki Tsunoda 🇯🇵 Racing Bulls 1:23.755
*18 Alexander Albon 🇹🇭 Williams 1:24.356
19 Valtteri Bottas 🇫🇮 Cadillac 1:24.364
20 Sergio Pérez 🇲🇽 Cadillac 1:24.595
††21 Fernando Alonso 🇪🇸 Aston Martin 1:25.150
22 Lance Stroll 🇨🇦 Aston Martin 1:25.22
† Piastri given a three-place grid penalty for impeding Lawson. *Antonelli, Lawson and Albon all relegated to the back of the grid for taking new power unit elements. ††Alonso and Lawson starting from the pit lane because of modifications under parc fermé.
