2019 Italian Grand Prix

2019 Italian Grand Prix
Race 14 of 21 in the 2019 Formula One World Championship ← Previous race Next race →
Layout of the Monza circuit
Race details[1]
Date	8 September 2019
Official name	Formula 1 Gran Premio Heineken d'Italia 2019
Location	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza Monza, Italy
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.793 km (3.600 miles)
Distance	53 laps, 306.720 km (190.587 miles)
Weather	Partly cloudy
Attendance	200,000[2]
Pole position
Driver	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari
Time	1:19.307
Fastest lap
Driver	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
Time	1:21.779 on lap 51
Podium
First	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari
Second	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes
Third	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
Lap leaders

The 2019 Italian Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 Gran Premio Heineken d'Italia 2019) was a Formula One motor race held on 8 September 2019 at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in Monza, Italy. The race was the 14th round of the 2019 Formula One World Championship and marked the 89th running of the Italian Grand Prix and the 84th time the race had been held at Monza. The Grand Prix ended with Leclerc claiming his second consecutive race win and Ferrari's first win in Italy since Fernando Alonso won the 2010 edition of the race.

Background[edit]

Championship standings before the race[edit]

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton entered the round with a 65-point lead over teammate Valtteri Bottas in the Drivers' Championship. In the Constructors' World Championship, Mercedes led Ferrari by 145 points.^[3]

Entries[edit]

The drivers and teams entered were the same as those for the previous race with no additional stand-in drivers for the race or practice.^[4]

Practice[edit]

The first practice session was affected by rain and saw Charles Leclerc finish the session fastest followed by Carlos Sainz Jr. and Lando Norris. The session was interrupted three times, firstly when Kimi Räikkönen spun and got stuck in the gravel trap at turn 11. Sergio Pérez also crashed his car on the exit of turn 10 and finally when Pierre Gasly beached his car on the kerbs at turn 2. The session was also filled with spins from a number of other drivers.^[5][6]

The second practice session was dry for the first hour before it started raining and the session once again saw Leclerc set the fastest time but this time it was Lewis Hamilton who was second fastest and Sebastian Vettel was third.^[7] The third practice session was delayed and shortened by 10 minutes following an accident during the support Formula 3 race and finished with Vettel fastest followed by Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas.^[8]

Qualifying[edit]

Qualifying report[edit]

Q1 and Q2[edit]

The first 18-minute qualifying session, Q1, was temporarily red-flagged with 4:34 remaining, when Sergio Pérez's car lost power on the inside of turn 3. Max Verstappen, already facing grid penalties for replacing power unit components, did not set a time in the session. Verstappen and Pérez were eliminated in Q1, as were both Williams drivers, Robert Kubica and George Russell, and the Haas of Romain Grosjean. The session finished with Charles Leclerc fastest for Scuderia Ferrari. In the second qualifying (Q2) session, the other Haas of Kevin Magnussen was eliminated, as were both Toro Rosso drivers, Pierre Gasly and Daniil Kvyat. Alfa Romeo's Antonio Giovinazzi was the final driver eliminated in Q2, beaten by his teammate Kimi Räikkönen for the last spot for the third qualifying session (Q3) by 0.002 seconds. Racing Point driver Lance Stroll made it into Q3 for the first time in 2019. Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time of Q2 which meant that Mercedes led a session for the first time in the weekend.

Q3[edit]

Q3, only 12 minutes long, was red-flagged at 6:35 left when Räikkönen lost control of his car and spun out wide into the tyre barriers at turn 11. After Räikkönen's car was cleared and the session resumed, two of the remaining nine drivers had still not set a time; Red Bull's Alexander Albon, and Stroll. When the session restarted, no team wanted to be the first to send their driver out as Monza is a track where slipstreaming is a significant advantage. As time began to wind down, speculation grew as to who would leave the pit lane first. The Q3 drivers did not make their way out of their garages until there were two minutes left in the session, with Renault driver Nico Hülkenberg leading the pack.

When he got to turn 1, Hülkenberg missed the turn and instead navigated through the run-off slip road past Turn 1. This action led to him being accused of deliberately taking the run-off in an effort to let other drivers past.^[9] Stroll and Carlos Sainz Jr, the next two drivers back, slowed their traversal of Turn 1, allowing enough time for Hülkenberg to again enter the track ahead of them.^[10] By the time the tight pack of drivers, led by Sainz and Hülkenberg, reached turn 3 on their out-laps, the margin of error allowing for drivers to reach the start line by the end of the Q3 session time was virtually gone. Ultimately, only Sainz and Leclerc successfully completed their out laps. All seven drivers behind them were caught out and thus crossed the line too late to have an opportunity to set a time in the second half of Q3. Sainz, the only driver who made a meaningful attempt, was unable to improve his first Q3 time enough to move out of seventh. The result meant that neither Albon or Stroll set a lap time.

There was strong criticism of what had happened in the final minutes of Q3. Red Bull's team principal Christian Horner's interpretation of Hülkenberg's move was that it was "obviously done on purpose", and beyond stating that the result was "all just a bit silly", interpreted the scenario with a widely reported expletive.^[11] Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff described Hülkenberg's chicane cut and the collective drivers' out-lap slowdowns as "junior class", and "not worthy of Formula 1."^[12]

Hülkenberg, Sainz, and Stroll were called in by the race stewards to be investigated for "driving unnecessarily slowly" on their Q3 out laps. The stewards further investigated Hülkenberg for potentially "leaving the track without a justifiable reason".^[10][13] Hülkenberg was cleared of wrongdoing with respect to leaving the track. The stewards stated, "In this case we are unable to determine that the driver deliberately left the track." All three of the drivers were reprimanded for driving too slowly, which they admitted they did do, and which the stewards concluded "played a significant role in the backing up of cars at a critical stage of the final out lap for Q3".^[14] The race stewards concluded the investigation of the three drivers with the remark, "The Stewards strongly recommend that the FIA expedite a solution to this type of situation".^[10]

Qualifying classification[edit]

Pos.	Car no.	Driver	Constructor	Qualifying times			Final grid
				Q1	Q2	Q3
1	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:20.126	1:19.553	1:19.307	1
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:20.272	1:19.464	1:19.346	2
3	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:20.156	1:20.018	1:19.354	3
4	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:20.378	1:19.715	1:19.457	4
5	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	1:20.374	1:19.833	1:19.839	5
6	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	1:20.155	1:20.275	1:20.049	6
7	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	McLaren-Renault	1:20.413	1:20.202	1:20.455	7
8	23	Alexander Albon	Red Bull Racing-Honda	1:20.382	1:20.021	No time	8
9	18	Lance Stroll	Racing Point-BWT Mercedes	1:20.643	1:20.498	No time	9
10	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari	1:20.634	1:20.515	No time	PL1
11	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari	1:20.657	1:20.517	N/A	10
12	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1:20.616	1:20.615	N/A	11
13	26	Daniil Kvyat	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	1:20.723	1:20.630	N/A	12
14	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Renault	1:20.646	1:21.068	N/A	162
15	10	Pierre Gasly	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	1:20.508	1:21.125	N/A	172
16	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	1:20.784	N/A	N/A	13
17	11	Sergio Pérez	Racing Point-BWT Mercedes	1:21.291	N/A	N/A	182
18	63	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes	1:21.800	N/A	N/A	14
19	88	Robert Kubica	Williams-Mercedes	1:22.356	N/A	N/A	15
107% time: 1:25.734
—	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda	No time	N/A	N/A	193
Source:[15][16]

Notes

• ^1 – Kimi Räikkönen was required to start from the pit lane for changing power unit components under parc fermé conditions.^[17]
• ^2 – Lando Norris, Pierre Gasly and Sergio Pérez were all demoted to the back of the grid for exceeding their quota for power unit components.^[18][19]
• ^3 – Max Verstappen was initially required to start from the back of the grid for exceeding his quota for power unit components,^[18] but failed to set a lap time during qualifying. He was allowed to race at the stewards' discretion.^[20]

Race[edit]

Race report[edit]

The top four drivers on the grid maintained their positions through turn 1 as the race began, with Charles Leclerc turning pole position into an early race lead. Max Verstappen, who started 19th on the grid, made contact with Sergio Pérez, damaging his front wing and requiring an early pit stop to replace it.

On lap 6, Sebastian Vettel, running a strong 4th, lost control and spun to a stop at turn 9, his car halfway onto the grass. In an attempt to rejoin as quickly as possible, Vettel veered into the path of Lance Stroll, who was in 7th. Vettel struck Stroll, damaging his own front wing, and further causing Stroll to spin out. When Stroll tried to rejoin the track, he in turn forced Pierre Gasly to drive through the gravel run off to in an attempt to avoid Stroll. Vettel was forced to replace his front wing at the end of lap 6, leaving him in last place. Stroll was pushed down to 13th. Race stewards investigated the double-incident. They penalised Vettel with a ten-second stop-go penalty, and Stroll with a drive-through penalty. Neither driver would recover to finish in the top ten. Vettel also received three penalty points on his FIA Super Licence for the incident.^[21]

Pit stops[edit]

By lap 19, the top three drivers (Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton, and Valtteri Bottas, in order) were in a pit window to replace the aging soft tyres they started their races on. Hamilton was the first to do so, replacing his with medium tyres. Leclerc pitted on lap 20, but elected instead to use the longer lasting but slower hard tyre. Bottas, who also chose the medium tyre, would not pit until lap 27. All three drivers returned to racing in the same order they'd been in before their pit stops. Carlos Sainz retired from the race on lap 29, after an error fitting his right front tyre in the pits forced him to stop near the exit to pit lane; this caused a brief virtual safety car. Shortly after, Daniil Kvyat's Toro Rosso suffered a mechanical breakdown just past turn 1, causing a second virtual safety car while his car was pushed to safety.

In the meantime, Leclerc's lead would be challenged for the remainder of the race by the Mercedes drivers behind him. After Leclerc and Hamilton's pit stops, Hamilton came close on several occasions to overtaking Leclerc, more than once less than one second behind and enabling him to use DRS. Both drivers exchanged occasional driving errors and Leclerc was warned once for pushing Hamilton off track. Hamilton consistently stayed close to Leclerc, but was unable to overtake him for the race lead. On lap 42, Hamilton locked up his tyres at turn 1, allowing Bottas to pass him into 2nd position. Bottas, who had medium tyres eight laps younger than Hamilton's, was able to challenge Leclerc for the lead just as Hamilton had done. Bottas came within one second of Leclerc on multiple occasions in the race's later stages, but, like Hamilton, he could not overtake Leclerc.

Race finish[edit]

The Grand Prix ended with Leclerc claiming his second consecutive race win and Ferrari's first win in Italy since Fernando Alonso won the 2010 edition of the race.^[22] It would be Leclerc's last victory until the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix. Bottas was less than a second behind to take 2nd, and Hamilton, who made a late-race pit stop for soft tyres set the fastest lap of the race and took the last step of the podium. Renault's Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hülkenberg finished strong in 4th and 5th positions, promoting Renault into 5th in the Constructor's championship. This also meant that they were only 18 points behind fourth placed McLaren. Alexander Albon managed a 6th-place finish for Red Bull, finishing one second behind Hulkenberg. Pérez and Verstappen, who both started at the back of the grid, ended in 7th and 8th. Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo) finished 9th and Lando Norris (McLaren) finished in tenth, the final points position.

Race classification[edit]

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	53	1:15:26.665	1	25
2	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	53	+0.835	3	18
3	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	53	+35.199	2	161
4	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	53	+45.515	5	12
5	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	53	+58.165	6	10
6	23	Alexander Albon	Red Bull Racing-Honda	53	+59.315	8	8
7	11	Sergio Pérez	Racing Point-BWT Mercedes	53	+1:13.802	18	6
8	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda	53	+1:14.492	19	4
9	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari	52	+1 lap	10	2
10	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Renault	52	+1 lap	16	1
11	10	Pierre Gasly	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	52	+1 lap	17
12	18	Lance Stroll	Racing Point-BWT Mercedes	52	+1 lap	9
13	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	52	+1 lap	4
14	63	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes	52	+1 lap	14
15	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari	52	+1 lap	PL
16	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	52	+1 lap	13
17	88	Robert Kubica	Williams-Mercedes	51	+2 laps	15
Ret	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	43	Hydraulics	11
Ret	26	Daniil Kvyat	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	29	Oil leak	12
Ret	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	McLaren-Renault	27	Wheel	7
Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) – 1:21.779 (lap 51)
Source:[16][23]

Notes

• ^1 – Includes one point for fastest lap.

Championship standings after the race[edit]

Drivers' Championship standings Pos. Driver Points 1 Lewis Hamilton 284 2 Valtteri Bottas 221 3 Max Verstappen 185 1 4 Charles Leclerc 182 1 5 Sebastian Vettel 169 Source:[24]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos. Constructor Points 1 Mercedes 505 2 Ferrari 351 3 Red Bull Racing-Honda 266 4 McLaren-Renault 83 1 5 Renault 65 Source:[24]

Note

• Only the top five positions for each set of standings are shown

See also[edit]

• 2019 Monza Formula 2 round
• 2019 Monza Formula 3 round

References[edit]