F1: Monza To Host Second Sprint Qualifying Session

Arguably the biggest race of the year, the Italian GP at Monza, which is Ferrari's home race and the home of the Tifosi will be the host for the second sprint qualifying session. The first sprint qualifying session at the British GP was deemed a success and now round 2 will be in a couple of months on the weekend of September 10-12 at what many consider the fastest track on the F1 calendar dubbed the "temple of speed". The sprint qualifying session will be an 18 lap affair that will favour cars that have great straight-line speed. This means it will predictably favour Mercedes and Red Bull which have two more powerful engines while the home team of Ferrari will likely struggle as its engine isn't as powerful as the Mercedes or Honda power unit. 

For over 70 per cent of the duration of the lap, the cars are on full throttle at Monza

The last time F1 raced at Monza an Italian team though won -- supposing a chaotic race yielded Pierre Gasly as the winner in the AlphaTauri - the Red Bull b-team which also was powered by the Honda engine. The changed weekend will also mean that the main qualifying session will be on Friday, while the sprint race will be happening on Saturday followed by the main race on Sunday. 

The first sprint was won by Max Verstappen who overtook Lewis Hamilton at the start of the race. The star of the race was Fernando Alonso who bolted from P11 to P5 but then dropped to P7. After Monza, there will be another sprint race as per the plans of Ross Brawn, the technical director for F1.