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Charles Leclerc
Photo:
IMAGO/Luca Rossini / ipa-agency.net / IMAGO/Independent Photo Agency
With cheers from the Tifosi, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc secured pole position for the Italian Grand Prix.
The Monegasque turned the fastest lap in qualifying at the home game of the Scuderia in Monza in 1:20.161 minutes and relegated world champion Max Verstappen (+0.145 seconds) in the Red Bull and his teammate Carlos Sainz (+0.268 seconds) to second and third place.
Like almost half of all drivers, Verstappen and Sainz are also penalized because of engine or transmission changes on the starting grid.
Leclerc took his eighth pole of the year and the 17th of his career.
Verstappen is expected to start the race from sixth place.
This weekend the track in Monza celebrates its 100th anniversary.
Because Sergio Pérez in fourth place is also pre-loaded because of the installation of new parts in his car - as is record world champion Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes in fifth place - Mercedes driver George Russell moves up to second place on the grid.
Schumacher's bad luck continues
Mick Schumacher, who still does not know whether he will be allowed to continue driving in Formula 1 next season, could not distinguish himself.
In practice, Schumacher was hardly able to complete any laps due to technical problems with his Haas. As a result, he – like his team-mate Kevin Magnussen and Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin) – retired in the first part of qualifying.
At Williams, regular driver Alex Albon missed qualifying, he had to have his appendix removed.
Substitute driver Nyck de Vries moved into the car for Albon, the Dutchman was directly faster than teammate Nicholes Latifi, due to the many grid penalties de Vries even starts the race from the top ten.
The world motorsport association Fia will only announce the exact starting positions in the course of the evening.
Albon wants to return to the Williams in the next race in Singapore (October 2nd).
krä/sid/dpa