In the top-10 shootout, Hamilton set the benchmark on the first run at 1m19.068s, 0.053s faster than Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas. Bottas improved to briefly grab provisional pole, but Hamilton hit back with 1m18.887s, which extended his advantage to 0.069s.
McLaren’s Carlos Sainz qualified third, eight tenths off pole, just 0.03s clear of Sergio Perez (Racing Point). Red Bull’s Max Verstappen could only manage fifth, ahead of Lando Norris (McLaren), Daniel Ricciardo (Renault), Lance Stroll (Racing Point), Red Bull’s Alex Albon (who lost his first lap due to track limits) and Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri).
In Qualifying 2, Bottas was quickest with a lap of 1m18.952s, a tenth and a half up on Hamilton and 0.75s clear of Sainz.
Knocked out at this point were Daniil Kvyat (AlphaTauri), Esteban Ocon (Renault), Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo) and Kevin Magnussen (Haas, who ran through the gravel at Lesmo 2). Ricciardo went off at the Roggia chicane and was forced to bail out of his second lap, but just squeaked through with his first effort.
In Qualifying 1, Hamilton topped the session with a lap of 1m19.539s, ahead of Bottas and Perez.
As expected, the final seconds of Q1 were chaotic as cars vied to get a slipstream, and the final laps looked more like a race than qualifying.
Falling at the first hurdle were Romain Grosjean (whose Haas understeered way too wide at Parabolica), Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel (who got stuck behind a Williams and blamed the Alfas for causing such “a big mess”), Antonio Giovinazzi and the Williamses of George Russell and Nicholas Latifi.
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