Written by Vyas Ponnuri
Zane Maloney took his maiden pole position at Monza on Friday afternoon, the Rodin Motorsport racer coming out on top after an interrupted and truncated session saw two red flags flown, with gravel and dirt scattered on the racing line in between the two Lesmo curves.
The Bajan racer will start Sunday's feature race from pole position, ahead of championship leader Isack Hadjar, while Paul Aron will start on the second row, third on the grid.
The 30-minute qualifying session was scattered with incidents, as multiple drivers had spins and offs, often kicking up dirt and bringing gravel onto the racing line. Despite the red flags, the two Lesmo curves still had plenty of gravel littered across the track, before drivers on their flying laps cleared the racing line.
The likes of fifth-placed Victor Martins transferred gravel onto the racing line as he had an off at turn eight, the second Lesmo curve, while the first red flag was called out to clean the track, after a brake marker board was kicked off onto the track, when Martins went off.
The second red flag was caused with around a third of the session to go, when Invicta Racing's Gabriel Bortoleto had an off in between turns seven and eight, triggering yet another red flag, while the clock ticked down ever so slightly.
In the end, Maloney was able to set a stellar lap time, a 1:32.160, eclipsing Hadjar's earlier effort by only 0.089 seconds, while Aron eventually finished just over a tenth and a half off the Bajan driver's lap time.
Championship leader Hadjar had his say on the situation, saying he wasn't as worried if the resultant gravel would affect his fast lap.
"There was gravel on the way out (of the Lesmo). With the procedure and the 22 cars cleaning the racing line, I wasn't really worried when I was pushing, as I knew the track would be pretty much green.
"In the end, it's gravel, it's not oil (or anything). So as long as we can drive on the track, and take the corner, I don't think it should be a problem," Hadjar concluded.
Pole-sitter Maloney spoke of the bigger tyres on the cars making sure the drivers didn't feel anything, and insisted it wasn't as much of a worry, with less gravel scattered onto the track.
"It depends on how much (of gravel) there is. If there is gravel everywhere, it is a bit different. Today, it was just a little bit. We have bigger tyres that grip into the ground, so you don't feel as much of a difference."
The Kick Sauber junior likened it to rain drops, and the way gravel on the track could mentally affect a driver. But he spoke about how the drivers get only a handful of laps, and must tune out these thoughts to bring their best to the track.
"Mentally, it is a bit like raindrops (falling on a racetrack). It is there on the side (of the track), but it can affect you. It could affect you a bit, mentally, but we're all experienced enough that we don't feel there was any gravel on the track, and we pushed to the limit. Especially when you have only one or two laps, you can't take margin in that scenario."
Aron, on the other hand, delved into how gravel could affect a driver who approached the scene first, while those trailing would have been less affected.
"I think it depends on where you are (in the queue). If you are the first one to approach the gravel, you could be affected by it. But by the time I approached the corner, there was a clear racing line and I didn't need to change my approach to take the corner."
The Estonian racer spoke of how it can be off-putting when a car ahead goes off, and said it could affect one's corner if the gravel fell on the racing line or the apex.
"When a driver goes off ahead of you, it can always be off-setting. If the stone (gravel) falls at the wrong place and the wrong time, it would affect your corner.
"We are all pushing flat out, and it matters where you are in the queue, if you are the one cleaning the track (of gravel), or the one behind. It's always difficult to manage when someone goes off the track ahead of you."
The trio of drivers will be racing in the sprint today, and start in the top three for Sunday's feature race, which gets underway at 10:05 local time (09:05 BST). Do make sure to tune in to see who comes out on top after 30 laps of racing on Sunday!
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