The Tifosi turned up the volume after qualifying as Carlos Sainz took pole ahead of Max Verstappen by just one-hundredth of a second and made their feelings clear as they booed the Dutchman during his post-qualifying interview. Ferrari looked strong all weekend at their home track with pressure always high on the famous F1 team to perform at Monza.
Sainz in particular had looked strong in practice with the Tifosi hoping that translated into qualifying. Verstappen was always going to be a threat still with the Red Bull driver at the top of his game.
And that proved the case throughout Q1 and Q2 as Verstappen kept up with the pace of both Ferraris. There was barely anything separating them either as both Ferraris and Verstappen embarked on their final runs in Q3.
Charles Leclerc was first over the line as he improved to take provisional pole, but Verstappen responded with a stellar lap to put his Red Bull ahead. Then it was Sainz’s turn, who put in a mega middle sector as the Spaniard snatched pole from Verstappen by just one-hundredth of a second.
The Tifosi immediately burst into raptures down the pit straight to celebrate Sainz’s pole. Those celebrations continued on the track when the drivers turned up for their post-qualifying interviews.
Any doubt of where the home crowd’s allegiance lied was quickly put to bed when Verstappen stepped up for his interview. The Tifosi rained down loud boos to the Dutchman, who managed to see the funny side of the rowdy atmosphere.
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Verstappen paid credit to Ferrari for taking pole at their home race, but warned he’ll be gunning to spoil their party on Sunday.
“It was good, I think we made some good improvements compared to yesterday,” Verstappen said. “You could see in every qualifying session it was very tight, so I’m happy to be second today.
“It’s nice to see [Ferrari on pole in Monza], but of course tomorrow we’ll try to win the race. Normally we have a quicker race car, but let’s just enjoy today and then we’ll focus on tomorrow.”
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