Scuderia Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen earned his first pole position of the 2018 Formula 1 season for the season’s 14th race, the Italian Grand Prix.
In Scuderia Ferrari’s home Formula 1 race, the Italian Grand Prix, one of their two drivers is set to start from the pole position, but it is not the driver who many people expected would be the one to do so.
Kimi Raikkonen earned his first pole position of the 21-race 2018 season in the season’s 14th race, as he qualified ahead of teammate and championship contender Sebastian Vettel. The 2007 Formula 1 champion had not qualified for a race on the pole position since he took the pole for the Monaco Grand Prix last year.
Raikkonen took the pole position for the 53-lap race by recording a top lap time of 79.119 seconds (163.804 miles per hour) around the 11-turn, 3.600-mile (5.793-kilometer) Autodromo Nazionale Monza road course in Monza, Italy.
By taking the pole position for this race, the 38-year-old Finn became the oldest driver to take a pole position for a Formula 1 race since Nigel Mansell took the pole position for the 1994 Australian Grand Prix at the age of 41.
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Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport teammate Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas qualified for the race on the second row in third and fourth place, respectively, meaning Hamilton, the leader of the Formula 1 driver standings, is set to start just one position behind his title rival.
Hamilton’s top lap time was 79.294 seconds, which was just 0.014 seconds slower than the top lap time of Vettel (79.280 seconds). This is much closer than many people predicted that the two four-time Formula 1 champions would be in qualifying coming into the race weekend given how much of an advantage Ferrari had over Mercedes in last Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.
Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen is set to round out the top five on the starting grid for the race after qualifying in fifth place.
Haas’ Romain Grosjean, Renault Sport’s Carlos Sainz Jr., Racing Point Force India’s Esteban Ocon, Scuderia Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly and Williams Martini Racing’s Lance Stroll are set to round out the top 10 on the starting grid for the race after qualifying in sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th place, respectively.
A total of eight of the 10 Formula 1 teams are represented among the 10 drivers who qualified for the race in the top 10. Each of the seven drivers who qualified from fourth through 10th place represents a different team.
Here are the full qualifying results for the 2018 Italian Grand Prix at Autodromo Nazionale Monza.
| Qualifying Results |
| 1st – Kimi Raikkonen |
| 2nd – Sebastian Vettel |
| 3rd – Lewis Hamilton |
| 4th – Valtteri Bottas |
| 5th – Max Verstappen |
| 6th – Romain Grosjean |
| 7th – Carlos Sainz Jr. |
| 8th – Esteban Ocon |
| 9th – Pierre Gasly |
| 10th – Lance Stroll |
| 11th – Kevin Magnussen |
| 12th – Sergey Sirotkin |
| 13th – Fernando Alonso |
| 14th – Nico Hulkenberg |
| 15th – Daniel Ricciardo |
| 16th – Sergio Perez |
| 17th – Charles Leclerc |
| 18th – Brendon Hartley |
| 19th – Marcus Ericsson |
| 20th – Stoffel Vandoorne |
Be sure to tune in to ESPN2 tomorrow morning at 9:10 a.m. ET for the live broadcast of the Italian Grand Prix as the 2018 Formula 1 championship battle continues to heat up between Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel.