Max Verstappen made history at Monza by setting the fastest lap speed ever seen in Formula 1.
The record was last broken by Lewis Hamilton in 2020. Verstappen chipped less than a tenth of a second off his time, lowering the former record of 1’18.887 to 1’18.792.
That nudged the record for the fastest average speed ever achieved in F1 to 264.681kph (164.465mph). That’s over 10kph faster than the next-quickest track F1 has visited this year, Jeddah, where Verstappen took pole with a 254.615kph lap.
Lap time change from practice to qualifying
In a familiar pattern we’ve seen several times already this year and previously, Red Bull gained more lap time between practice and qualifying at Monza. Only Haas made a bigger step:
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Sector times
This was a remarkably close qualifying session so could Verstappen – or anyone else – have lapped quicker? It seems unlikely.
Both the front row occupants, Verstappen and Lando Norris, did their three fastest sector times on their best lap. So did fourth-placed Charles Leclerc.
Oscar Piastri could have pipped Norris to second place, but ended up behind his team mate. This was partly because he was considerably slower in the first sector, where he only ranked 15th fastest.
| P. | # | Driver | S1 | S2 | S3 | Ultimate lap (deficit) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Max Verstappen | 26.262 (4) | 26.483 (4) | 26.047 (1) | 1’18.792 |
| 2 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | 26.446 (15) | 26.340 (1) | 26.066 (3) | 1’18.852 (+0.130) |
| 3 | 4 | Lando Norris | 26.378 (9) | 26.438 (3) | 26.053 (2) | 1’18.869 |
| 4 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | 26.265 (5) | 26.582 (5) | 26.160 (5) | 1’19.007 |
| 5 | 63 | George Russell | 26.449 (16) | 26.434 (2) | 26.193 (6) | 1’19.076 (+0.081) |
| 6 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | 26.219 (3) | 26.679 (12) | 26.219 (7) | 1’19.117 (+0.007) |
| 7 | 12 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | 26.461 (17) | 26.613 (7) | 26.095 (4) | 1’19.169 (+0.031) |
| 8 | 5 | Gabriel Bortoleto | 26.215 (2) | 26.671 (11) | 26.326 (8) | 1’19.212 (+0.111) |
| 9 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | 26.348 (7) | 26.592 (6) | 26.363 (12) | 1’19.303 (+0.059) |
| 10 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | 26.181 (1) | 26.816 (15) | 26.344 (11) | 1’19.341 (+0.157) |
| 11 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | 26.420 (11) | 26.645 (10) | 26.337 (10) | 1’19.402 (+0.031) |
| 12 | 87 | Oliver Bearman | 26.376 (8) | 26.736 (14) | 26.334 (9) | 1’19.446 |
| 13 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | 26.393 (10) | 26.637 (8) | 26.428 (13) | 1’19.458 (+0.070) |
| 14 | 23 | Alexander Albon | 26.442 (14) | 26.643 (9) | 26.437 (16) | 1’19.522 (+0.061) |
| 15 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | 26.432 (13) | 26.729 (13) | 26.436 (15) | 1’19.597 (+0.110) |
| 16 | 6 | Isack Hadjar | 26.331 (6) | 26.939 (19) | 26.494 (17) | 1’19.764 (+0.153) |
| 17 | 18 | Lance Stroll | 26.502 (18) | 26.849 (16) | 26.543 (19) | 1’19.894 (+0.054) |
| 18 | 43 | Franco Colapinto | 26.547 (19) | 26.936 (18) | 26.429 (14) | 1’19.912 (+0.080) |
| 19 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | 26.628 (20) | 26.902 (17) | 26.514 (18) | 1’20.044 (+0.059) |
| 20 | 30 | Liam Lawson | 26.425 (12) | 27.050 (20) | 26.672 (20) | 1’20.147 (+0.132) |
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Teams’ performance
Qualifying was especially disappointing for Williams. Having been the third-quickest team yesterday they were the third-slowest today. Carlos Sainz Jnr and Alexander Albon once again rued the difficulty they face getting the best out of the soft tyres over a single lap.
Every team lapped quicker at Monza than they did last year. Sauber stand out as clearly the most improved, but Red Bull also made a significant gain at a track where they were not competitive last year.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Field performance
Monza is F1’s fastest circuit by far and its ultimate speed record has fallen here several times before.
Juan Pablo Montoya’s blistering lap of 1’19.525 from qualifying in 2004 stood as the record for 14 years. The record he set in a V10 Williams-BMW was finally broken in 2018 by Kimi Raikkonen as he led a one-two for Ferrari. Hamilton lowered the record again two years later.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Miss nothing from RaceFans
Get a daily email with all our latest stories – and nothing else. No marketing, no ads. Sign up here:
