Italian Grand Prix: Sebastian Vettel’s chagrin highlights Ferrari’s Monza dilemma after Kimi Raikkonen pole

Could there have been a greater contrast between the two men driving for Ferrari here at the cathedral of speed known as the Autodromo di Monza? As the red cars wrapped up the front row of the grid for the 60th time in the Scuderia’s 68-year career, Kimi Raikkonen looked like he’d run over someone’s dog rather than a man who had just given thousands of delirious fans just what they came to see while setting the fastest-ever F1 lap of a race track.

At the same time Sebastian Vettel, who’d thought he had done enough and was just about to launch into his ‘grazie rigazzi’ routine, looked like it had been his canine beneath the Finn’s wheels. Told that his lap of 1m 19.119s (average speed 263.587s kmh) had finally killed off Juan-Pablo Montoya’s best of 1m 19.525s (average speed 262.242 kmh) from the 2004 qualifying session – even though today’s cars are 150 kg heavier and weigh as much as Mercedes’ pre-war W125 – Raikkonen simply replied “Thank you.” Vettel, told he was ‘only’ P2 as he exclaimed “Yeah!” and was about to get voluble, replied coldly: “We speak after…”

Later, he refused to expand further when asked what that meant. “I don’t tell you that,” he said. Twice. That little intra-team vignette merely highlights what a high-speed, high-stakes game F1 really is, and nowhere do the cars go faster than they do here.

Ferrari have looked good all weekend. Raikkonen was fastest in first practice, Vettel in the second and third, and then the first and second qualifying sessions. But an heroic effort by Lewis Hamilton snatched away that advantage on the first runs in the final qualifying session, as his 1m 19.390s undercut Raikkonen’s 1m 19.459s and Vettel’s 1m 19.497s.

That was a surprise, frankly, given Ferrari’s speed. Hamilton then improved on his second run, to 1m 19.294s, but then Vettel delivered with 1m 19.280s before Raikkonen settled the matter in 1m 19.119s to take the 18th pole of his career and his first since Monaco last year. It may have come just in the nick of time, too. In recent weeks the smart money, since the death of Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne, has been that Raikkonen would get a reprieve and that talented Monegasque Charles Leclerc would not take over his ride alongside Vettel.

But the Sauber junior had a secret test on a photo day here in July, in a Ferrari SF71H, and the latest suggestions this weekend are that Kimi’s days are finally numbered after all. So though he did much to hide what he really felt, the success must have been important for him if it makes the new powers that be at Ferrari – Louis Camilleri and John Elcan – have another change of heart.

“It’s great for tomorrow, but only half the job is done,” Raikkonen offered. “But there is no better place to be on pole in front of all tifosi. Hopefully tomorrow all goes smoothly and we end up in the same positions. No matter where we go around world there are tifosi, but here at our home grand prix everywhere is full of red, so I hope that tomorrow is good as today.”

In a nice little touch he was given his Pirelli pole position award by Mick Schumacher, son of Michael, who is making a name for himself with three recent victories in Formula 3. Vettel had plastered on the bonhomie by the time of the main press conference, and spoke warmly of the support from the tifosi and the result that the team had delivered, but he wasn’t happy with either of his laps.

“It’s a good result for Kimi, and he found the nice sweet spot. But my last lap was not too good and that is the emotion dominating now. I lost a bit in the first chicane, more in the second, and then the Lesmos, but the last sector was okay. But overall it was not good enough. I was lucky to get second rather than third.” Brightening a little, he added: “But it was incredible to see all the flags and banners. It says passion on the banners and that’s exactly what the people have, they are screaming us forwards.”

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Despite dropping from provisional pole to third, Hamilton was happy and you sensed the racer in him had relished the fight. The Ferrari is the better car right now, but he had given his all and so nearly prevailed.

“That was a fantastic qualifying session, and congratulations to Kimi,” he said, looking relaxed. “We knew they had pace this weekend and that it would take something quite special catch them. Generally it’s been that kind of distance between us all weekend and but I was hopeful we’d be able give them a run. “My first lap was good and the second was not bad but could have been better, but that’s how racing should be. I really enjoyed that.”

Part of Vettel’s chagrin may have been that it was his turn to go out of the garage first, which meant that Raikkonen was the beneficiary of the slipstream ‘tow’ that Vettel’s car provided, and which was crucial in the old days here and still plays an important part. “I’m taking the car to the edge,” Hamilton added, “but it’s been feeling pretty good this weekend and all our time has been lost on the straights. I can’t really explain why that is.

“Sebastian got a good tow from me, and I had good one from Valtteri [team-mate Bottas]. The tow has a huge effect here and getting the lap right is important. At the end of the day Kimi did the job. I don’t think I could have gone any quicker, so I’m really happy with our performance this weekend. We just need that little bit more.

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“I think it’ll be pretty much the same in the race because their long run pace has been very good, but hopefully we improved our car last night so our long runs should be better, so we’ll see. This close competition is great for the sport, and it’s pushing us all to limits we didn’t even know we could go to, and that’s what the sport is about.”

Sadly it is also about team orders, and everyone worries whether Raikkonen will have to fight with one hand tied behind his back tomorrow. Would he really be allowed to win?

“If starts from pole I guess he’s allowed to win,” Vettel suggested, sounding not entirely convincing. “He wants to win, I want to win. Hopefully one of us will.” If Raikkonen really is on his way out, letting him win here might be a nice way of saying thanks and goodbye. Equally, if the red do dominate, why deprive Vettel of a crucial seven points in the fight with Hamilton, who will be doing everything he can to beat them? It’s going to be fascinating to see just how this one pans out.