This Italian Grand Prix weekend at Monza marks the second of three experimental sprint race weekends for Formula 1, so you would expect the winner of today's sprint qualifying race to start from pole tomorrow. Instead, he'll start from last.
Valtteri Bottas led every lap of today's sprint race at Monza from pole en route to the win and three points in the championship hunt. However, he incurred a full-grid penalty for an engine adjustment yesterday. That penalty drops him to 20th of 20. So, he won pole for the qualifying race in Friday qualifying, won provisional pole for Sunday in a sprint race today, and still comes to tomorrow's race ready to start last.
Max Verstappen is the big winner in the exchange. While Red Bull lost one total championship point in the constructor's standings battle, his finish of second and Lewis Hamilton's finish outside of the top three ensures that he has added two total points to a narrow driver's championship lead. He also inherits pole for tomorrow's race.
An excellent sprint race for the McLarens leaves Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris in second and third. Lewis Hamilton will start fourth after struggling on the start today and ending up a quiet fifth. Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz will share the third row for the long-time Monza favorites at Ferrari.
The race saw one safety car, the result of an incident that left Pierre Gasly in the wall at the Curva Grande on lap 1. Assuming his car can be repaired in a day, he will start on the last row with Bottas when the series runs its traditional Italian Grand Prix tomorrow.
