Leclerc on POLE at Italian Grand Prix – but it was all a bit of a shambles

Charles Leclerc has taken pole position at the 2019 Italian Grand Prix, but qualifying was an unmitigated shambles as drivers looked for a tow.

For the second time in a week, Charles Leclerc has taken a pole position, this time at the 2019 Italian Grand Prix.

But the shine of that triumph was the farce in qualifying of seeing F1 cars faffing around to try and get a tow behind a car in front, which in the end wrecked any real sense that qualifying produced an indicator for the race, with few drivers actually managing a proper flying lap.

Qualifying also saw Vettel just avoid having his only lap time in final qualifying cancelled for abusing track limits, Albon failed to record a time as he ran behind Raikkonen’s Alfa Rome which crashed, which also baulked Hamilton perhaps costing him pole, and Bottas had his lap cancelled after he failed to cross the line in time, but had it reinstated when he said he had. Oh, and Peroni had a spectacular crash.

The madness of qualifying saw Hamilton take second place on the grid, Bottas third and Vettel fourth, with Ricciardo and Hulkenberg putting Renault in fifth and sixth, Sainz in seventh for McLaren, Albon eighth for Red Bull, Stroll ninth for Racing Point and Raikkonen 10th for Alfa Romeo.

But Max Verstappen for Red Bull, Daniil Kvyat for Toro Rosso and Carloz Sainz for McLaren will start at the back tomorrow’s grid because of penalties.