Ferrari Formula 1 junior Ilott grabs maiden F2 pole at Monza
Ferrari Formula 1 junior Callum Ilott took a maiden Formula 2 pole position at Monza, one week after his team-mate Juan Manuel Correa was injured at Spa
Ilott's pole came as his team-mate Correa remains stable in intensive care after being caught up the tragic Spa crash which claimed the life Anthoine Hubert one week ago.
The drivers were instantly under pressure as the already falling drizzle was forecast to increase to heavy rain 10 minutes into the session, making the first lap potentially key.
But rain abated for the first part of the session as Ferrari Academy driver Ilott starred. Championship leader Nyck de Vries and contender Luca Ghiotto ran first on the road but were constantly pushed back by those behind as the track improved.
Sauber Junior Team driver Ilott held pole by over two tenths from fellow rookie and Virtuosi Racing driver Guan Yu Zhou.
But with 20 minutes remaining, Honda junior Nobuharu Matsushita lost the rear of his Carlin-run car at Variante della Roggia chicane, which brought out a red flag as he got stuck in the gravel. Rain hit at the same time.
Just as cars began to re-emerge, Tatiana Calderon - the sole Arden runner after the loss of team-mate Hubert at Spa last weekend - lost the rear of her car and stopped at the exit of the Variante della Roggia chicane, like Matsushita.
Attempts at pole recommenced with the first laps arriving with 10 minutes to go, but no one could improve as the track remained slippery, particularly at the two Lesmo corners and Variante della Roggia.
But inside the last minute, improvements finally surfaced and it produced a nail-biting end to the session.
ART Grand Prix's de Vries looked the most likely to undo Ilott's pole time, but he snapped wide at the first Lesmo corner on his last effort and his chance of pole was over. He then pulled to a halt near the Curva Grande with an apparent mechanical issue.
That secured pole for Ilott. Ilott's reaction was muted on the radio.
Zhou, who formed part of Renault's junior programme alongside Hubert, took an emotional runner-up spot to Ilott - his second front row start of the campaign - ahead of de Vries's team-mate Nikita Mazepin.
Mazepin was also Hubert's team-mate, in GP3 last year, and scored his best F2 qualifying result with third. De Vries - Mazepin's team-mate - improved to fourth with his penultimate effort.
Flu-hit DAMS driver Sergio Sette Camara continues to battle his illness strongly with fifth, beating his title-contending team-mate Nicholas Latifi who could only manage seventh. Matsushita's time before spinning was good enough to split the DAMS drivers.
Behind Latifi, MP Motorsport's Jordan King was a late mover jumping into eighth, while another Ferrari junior, Mick Schumacher, took ninth on his team Prema Racing's home ground.
Louis Deletraz rounded out the top 10. He was set to move into the top three at least with his lap, before his Carlin team-mate Matsushita ruined his lap by bringing out the red flag.
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Callum Ilott | Sauber Junior Team by Charouz | Dallara/Mecachrome | 1m33.887s | - | 13 |
2 | Guanyu Zhou | UNI-Virtuosi | Dallara/Mecachrome | 1m34.030s | 0.143s | 13 |
3 | Nikita Mazepin | ART Grand Prix | Dallara/Mecachrome | 1m34.063s | 0.176s | 14 |
4 | Sergio Sette Camara | DAMS | Dallara/Mecachrome | 1m34.272s | 0.385s | 14 |
5 | Nobuharu Matsushita | Carlin | Dallara/Mecachrome | 1m34.419s | 0.532s | 5 |
6 | Nicholas Latifi | DAMS | Dallara/Mecachrome | 1m34.885s | 0.998s | 14 |
7 | Jordan King | MP Motorsport | Dallara/Mecachrome | 1m34.944s | 1.057s | 11 |
8 | Mick Schumacher | Prema Racing | Dallara/Mecachrome | 1m35.082s | 1.195s | 13 |
9 | Louis Deletraz | Carlin | Dallara/Mecachrome | 1m35.101s | 1.214s | 13 |
10 | Sean Gelael | Prema Racing | Dallara/Mecachrome | 1m35.148s | 1.261s | 13 |
11 | Giuliano Alesi | Trident | Dallara/Mecachrome | 1m35.310s | 1.423s | 14 |
12 | Jack Aitken | Campos Racing | Dallara/Mecachrome | 1m35.547s | 1.660s | 13 |
13 | Luca Ghiotto | UNI-Virtuosi | Dallara/Mecachrome | 1m35.641s | 1.754s | 15 |
14 | Marino Sato | Campos Racing | Dallara/Mecachrome | 1m36.709s | 2.822s | 13 |
15 | Mahaveer Raghunathan | MP Motorsport | Dallara/Mecachrome | 1m37.027s | 3.140s | 14 |
- | Tatiana Calderon | BWT Arden | Dallara/Mecachrome | 1m46.667s | 12.780s | 4 |
- | Nyck de Vries | ART Grand Prix | Dallara/Mecachrome | - | - | 15 |
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments