Charles Leclerc put Ferrari on pole position for their home Italian Formula One Grand Prix on Saturday in a qualifying session that ended in farce and with drivers under investigation.
Five-time world champion Lewis Hamilton will join the 21-year-old Monegasque on the front row for Mercedes, with teammate Valtteri Bottas third and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel fourth.
Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo qualified fifth on the grid, one place ahead of Renault teammate Nico Hulkenburg.
The last lap saw nine drivers cruising around, weaving and braking but with nobody willing to take the lead, and only McLaren’s Carlos Sainz making it to the line in time for a final fast lap.
“That was worse than a junior formula,” a fuming Toto Wolff, team principal of world champions Mercedes, told Sky TV.
“The problem was everyone wants a slipstream and nobody wants to go first…. and then everyone looks like idiots.”
Stewards said in a note on the timing screens that the last lap was under investigation.
Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen, the other driver through to the final phase of qualifying and last year’s pole sitter for Ferrari, had earlier crashed at Parabolica – halting the session for 11 minutes.
When the session re-started, with Leclerc on provisional pole after setting the pace before the red flag, there were minutes of inaction.
That was followed by a sudden flurry, with cars streaming out of the pitlane and jostling for position in a closely-grouped pack.
The pole was Leclerc’s fourth of the season and second in a row. The Monegasque will be chasing his second successive victory on Sunday after winning for the first time in Belgium last weekend.
“I’m happy with pole but it’s a shame at the end it was a big mess and I hoped our last lap was enough,” said the youngster.