Photo: XAVI BONILLA
New Zealand's Liam Lawson has unleashed another promising drive to qualify 12th for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza while Carlos Sainz narrowly clinched pole position.
After finishing 13th in his maiden F1 appearance at Zandvoort last week, Lawson, took advantage of better preparation on his AlphaTauri team's home track, clocking 1m 21.758s around the 5.8km circuit.
The 21-year-old was a late call-up for the Dutch GP, after Aussie Daniel Ricciardo suffered a broken hand during practice, leaving very little opportunity to come to grips with the new class.
"Overall, we've been progressing over the sessions, building up my confidence," said Lawson ahead of Monday morning's race.
"I'm happy to have made some improvements and I'm sure there's more to come.
"It's a good position to be starting in and with both cars so close to each other, I'm positive about points for the team tomorrow."
Sainz had Ferrari fans dreaming of ending Red Bull's domination, and Max Verstappen's record run, after the Spaniard roared to pole position.
Verstappen will be chasing his 10th consecutive Formula One win and joined Sainz on the front row after missing out on pole by a mere 13 thousandths of a second at Monza's atmospheric "Temple of Speed".
Only 0.067 separated Sainz's fastest flying lap of one minute 20.294 seconds from team mate Charles Leclerc in third place.
The Ferrari fans, who unfurled giant prancing horse flags in the grandstands before the session started, have had little to cheer about this season but they roared on the red cars with passion and pride.
The pole was Ferrari's third of a season in which Red Bull have won all 13 races so far and Sainz's first since Austin, Texas, last October.
The final top 10 shootout took place with a stewards' enquiry hanging over Ferrari for going too slowly in the first phase but that threat dropped away as officials decided to take no further action.
Sainz, who turned 29 on Friday and set the fastest lap in practice, said he felt goosebumps on the slowing down lap as he felt the crowd's excitement.
"It's incredible. Everywhere we go it's just noise, support and encouragement and it's the best feeling you can have as a driver," he said.
"Tomorrow I will give it everything to hold on to that P1. A good start, a good first stint and see if we can battle Max. Normally in the long runs he is quicker but I am going to give it all."
- RNZ/Reuters
