Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas of Finland celebrates winning a sprint race qualifying session at the Monza Racetrack in Monza, Italy, Saturday, Sept.
Valtteri Bottas continued a stellar weekend as he won the sprint at the Italian Grand Prix on Saturday afternoon for Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton, who saw title rival Max Verstappen in pole position and extend his lead in the standings.
Bottas finished the 18-lap dash 2.325 seconds ahead of Verstappen but will start from the back of the grid on Sunday as he moves to pick up a new power unit and will receive a penalty for doing so.
Verstappen has pole position and Daniel Ricciardo will also start from the front row. The McLaren driver finished 14.534 behind Bottas, who is leaving Mercedes at the end of the season for Alfa Romeo.
Hamilton finished fifth after a poor start, more than 20 seconds behind his teammate.
Verstappen extended his lead in the championship to five points after a Red Bull driver scored two points to finish second.
This was his second sprint qualifying since his debut at Silverstone.
Instead of the standard format of two drills on Friday and a third practice and qualifying on Saturday, there was one practice on Friday followed by a qualifying session that determined the grid for Saturday’s sprint.
Bottas was fastest in Friday’s qualifying and so started just before Hamilton. But the seven-time world champion had a poor start and she quickly moved to sixth place.
Hamilton moved up to fifth after Pierre Gasly – a surprise winner at Monza last year – slammed into the back of another car and crashed into obstacles at a turn. He will start the race behind Lando Norris and just ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who won the Italian team’s home race in 2019.
Hamilton is a five-time winner at Temple of Speed and has three additional podiums on the track.
In contrast, Verstappen has never set foot on the coveted Monza podium, with a best finish of fifth in 2018.
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