Leclerc Claims P1 in Qualifying at F1 in Monza, Sunday's Race Is Bound to Be Epic

Round 16 of the 2022 Formula 1 championship is currently ongoing at Autodromo Nazionale Monza in Italy. It's a two-hour drive from Ferrari's HQ in Maranello, but even so, this event is seen as a home race for both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.

Scuderia fans have been getting increasingly disappointed with the performance of the team as of late, blaming the poor strategic decisions made by the people running the show. But oftentimes, things are more complex than they seem to be and it's difficult to say whether the team is at fault or it's just a string of bad luck.

Throughout the year both Ferrari drivers have shown tremendous potential, always fighting to be the fastest both during qualifying and the main events. And they weren't going to slow down in Monza either. While things have been heating up at Monza for a few days now, it was yesterday that the drivers first went out on the track for some practice laps.

During FP1, Charles Leclerc put on a solid performance driving for 25 laps. He was the fastest man in the session, with a time of 1:22.410. Carlos Sainz was just 0.077 seconds slower, which goes to show how fast both of them are.

Seeing George Russell in third was no surprise, and his teammate Lewis Hamilton was not far behind either, in P4. All the drivers down to Valtteri Bottas in P9 were less than a second slower compared to Leclerc, while Nicholas Latifi was 2.531 seconds behind the session leader.

Nyck de Vries got another taste of F1 driving in Sebastian Vettel's Aston Martin, and he was just slightly faster than Latifi in P19. Even though Leclerc has scored more points this year, there's always that feeling that Carlos Sainz might be just a bit faster.

And that was once again the case in FP2, as he put in a fast lap of 1:21.664. Verstappen came in a close second, with Leclerc in third. They were the only drivers of the session to dip below the 1:22 mark. On the other end of the list, Mick Schumacher seems to be going through a rough patch as of late as he was the slowest driver in FP2.

Come Saturday, Max Verstappen was once again on top of his game as he continued to push the limits of his RB18 race car. This time Sergio Perez also joined the party, revealing his true potential as he finished the session just in front of Sainz but behind Leclerc.

With Alex Albon being taken to the hospital to get treatment for appendicitis, Nick de Vries jumped behind the wheel of the Williams Mercedes. This time he managed to climb up to P14, outrunning veterans such as Daniel Ricciardo, Valtteri Bottas, and Sebastian Vettel.

But everyone was anxious to see how the qualifying session would play out, as that was the most important part of the second day in Monza. With 10 seconds to go until the end of Q1, Max Verstappen was in the lead, and the only driver to run a full lap in less than one minute and 21 seconds.

As always, there was an ongoing struggle on the back of the grid as several drivers were trying to avoid being knocked out early in the game. Nick de Vries barely made it into Q2 for his first-ever F1 qualifying session, with Valtteri Bottas claiming P15.

Both Aston Martin and Haas supporters would be disappointed to see their favorites losing the battle in Q1, as they were even slower than Nicholas Latifi. The two Scuderia Ferrari drivers took charge in Q2. With moments to go before the end of Q2, Sainz had set a fast lap of 1:20.878, while Leclerc and Verstappen were quite close to each other in P2 and P3.

By the end of the session, Ocon, Bottas, de Vries, Zhou, and Tsunoda were out of the game. So it was now time to see the most exciting part of the qualifying session: Q3! Halfway through the last part of the day, Sainz was once again leading the pack. Lando Norris took over at one point, with Daniel Ricciardo in a close second.

But it was a short-lasting victory as Sergio Perez topped the leaderboard, only to be replaced by Leclerc and Sainz in a matter of just seconds. By the end of it all, Charles Leclerc claimed his eighth P1 in qualifying for 2022. Max Verstappen was not far behind, and it's already a common sight to see Sainz and Perez duking it out for third.

Tsunoda has been penalized 10 grid places plus an additional 3 grid places for accumulating multiple reprimands and failing to slow for yellow flags during practice. And he will be joined by Hamilton and Sainz at the back of the grid for use of additional power unit and/or gearbox elements.

They're not the only ones to have suffered this fate, and that should make tomorrow's race even more interesting. Leclerc will be joined by Russell in the front row, with Norris and Ricciardo following close behind. Max Verstappen will be starting from P7, right next to Nyck de Vries. But we've all seen how comfortable he is with these situations, and he's got 53 laps to make up for the lost time.