The FIA has cleared Ferrari, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc of any wrongdoing during qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix, meaning the Spanish driver will keep his pole position at the team’s home race.
Sainz, who showed plenty of pace throughout all three practice sessions ahead of qualifying, pipped championship leader Verstappen and his Ferrari team-mate to pole by just under a tenth of a second.
However, the deal wasn’t sealed when the chequered flag waved as both Ferrari drivers were under review from the FIA having potentially breached the maximum lap-time rule placed into effect by the FIA to combat traffic issues during qualifying.
Some touch-and-go timekeeping had put the team in the FIA’s bad books before Q3 had even begun, but there will be no further action towards Sainz and Leclerc following the conclusion of an investigation into the incident.
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Speaking after securing his maiden pole position this season, Sainz said: “Wow, honestly. It was such an intense Qualifying. We were very on the limit and on that last lap I knew I had some lap time to come and I went for it.
“Goosebumps since I crossed the finish line and watched the crowd. Everywhere we go it is just noise, encouragement, support- the best feeling you can have as an athlete.
“Tomorrow I will give it everything to get that P1. Let’s see if we can battle Max. Normally in the long run he is quicker but I am going to give it my all.”
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Sainz is now one of just three non-Red Bull drivers to take a pole position this season, joining Mercedes star Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari team-mate Leclerc, who started from the front at Baku and Spa, in the pole club.
Speaking about his result, Verstappen explained: “It was good, I think we made some god improvements compared to yesterday. You could see in every Qualifying session it was very tight, so I’m happy to be second today.
“It’s nice to see (Ferrari on pole in Monza), but of course tomorrow we’ll try to win the race. Normally we have a quicker race car, but let’s just enjoy today and then we’ll focus on tomorrow.”
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