Raikkonen smashes F1’s fastest lap record to grab pole in Monza
Ferrari teammate Vettel shares front row as Hamilton comes in third
Kimi Raikkonen smashed Formula One’s all-time fastest lap record as he outpaced teammate Sebastian Vettel to grab pole position yesterday for the Italian Grand Prix.
Ferrari locked out the front row of the grid with a blitz of speed that left defending champion and current leader Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes third, despite twice beating the record set at Monza by Colombian Juan-Pablo Montoya, in a Williams, in 2004.
Raikkonen’s record lap was clocked in one minute and 19.119 seconds at an average speed of 263.586 kph (163.785 mph). He was one-tenth of a second faster than both Vettel and Hamilton who set up a memorable three-way finale in a dramatic session, all of them setting records along the way.
Valtteri Bottas was fourth for Mercedes ahead of Max Verstappen of Red Bull and Romain Grosjean of Haas. Carlos Sainz was seventh on his birthday for Renault ahead of Esteban Ocon of Force India, Pierre Gasly of Toro Rosso and Lance Stroll of Williams. It was Ferrari’s first pole on home soil at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza for Ferrari since 2010 and Raikkonen’s first pole in 12 years. At 38, he also became the oldest pole sitter since Nigel Mansell, aged, 41, took pole for the 1994 Australian Grand Prix.
It was also a track record at Monza, with Raikkonen clocking 1:19.119 — at an average speed of 163.8 mph (263.6 kph) — to beat Juan Pablo Montoya’s 14-year mark.
Vettel thought he had secured pole as he outpaced Hamilton on the final lap and appeared to celebrate before being told on team radio that he had been beaten by Raikkonen.
“We speak later,” was Vettel’s terse response.
The four-time world champion was asked about the incident in the news conference later but only said: “Clearly I wasn’t happy but I won’t tell you why.”
Raikkonen, who was front of the grid in Monaco last year, was 0.161 seconds quicker than Vettel and 0.175 ahead of Hamilton.
The last time Ferrari took pole position for the Italian GP was in 2010, which was also the year it last won its home race.