On the scene of his maiden grand prix win, Alpine driver Pierre Gasly has written another chapter in his Formula 1 career by claiming his first-ever pole position for the Italian Grand Prix.
In a thrilling Q3 shootout, Gasly trumped pre-session favourite George Russell by a mere 0.060s to deny the Mercedes driver a fifth pole of the year and take Alpine to the top of the timesheets.
Russell had drawn first blood in the final shootout with a 1m21.929s lap, ahead of Oscar Piastri, Gasly and Charles Leclerc.
With the entire top 10 covered by less than two tenths, getting optimal track position to benefit from a slipstream proved crucial, with Russell having an ace up his sleeve in the shape of team-mate Kimi Antonelli.
Antonelli is set to start on the last row due to an engine penalty, so the Italian was asked to tow Russell around the 5.8km track.
But Gasly also played his cards to perfection by grabbing a slipstream from Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, and delivered an outstanding lap to leapfrog Russell.
Pierre Gasly, Alpine
Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images
Piastri and Leclerc were third and fourth, followed by Hamilton and Max Verstappen. Antonelli was seventh but will lose that position on the grid, elevating Franco Colapinto to seventh.
Norris was a disappointed ninth after not being able to grab a slipstream from team-mate Piastri, who went off in Turn 1. In doing so, the Australian ruined his own lap and left Norris punching a hole in the air by himself. Piastri and Norris had both struggled under brakes in Turn 1, and Piastri is also expected to be investigated for blocking Liam Lawson.
Arvid Lindblad qualified 10th and will move up to ninth as a result of Antonelli’s penalty.
The first barrage of Q2 runs left Ferrari’s Hamilton in the drop zone, appearing to catch traffic at the wrong time on his run, which left the seven-time world champion with a lot of work to do on his final run.
With Leclerc also under pressure in ninth, neither team-mate was in a position to help the other red car. Leclerc was unable to improve his lap, but Hamilton did manage to wrangle half a tenth out of the SF-26, demoting Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto by a minuscule 0.001s margin and sparing the Scuderia’s blushes.
Bortoleto was followed out by Haas’ Oliver Bearman, who used an upgraded car and power unit to take 12th. An unhappy Lawson was eliminated in 13th, denying Red Bull a chance to give Verstappen a tow in Q3.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images
Lawson, who replaces the injured Isack Hadjar for the second consecutive weekend, will join Antonelli at the back of the grid with an engine penalty.
Nico Hulkenberg, Carlos Sainz and Esteban Ocon also exited the session at the end of Q2.
In Q1, which was also headed by Gasly ahead of Verstappen and Norris, proved the final station for Racing Bull’s replacement driver Yuki Tsunoda, who stood in for Lawson at the New Zealander’s regular team.
Tsunoda was on the wrong end of the cut-off in 17th after failing to deliver a clean lap, allowing Williams driver Sainz to escape to Q2 by 0.139s.
Sainz’s team-mate Alex Albon also played a role by handing the Spaniard a crucial tow on the straight while the Anglo-Thai driver was down in 18th.
Cadillac defeated Aston Martin at the bottom of the order, with Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez comfortably ahead of a struggling Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll. Alonso didn’t complete a final run due to a Honda power unit problem.
F1 Italian GP – Qualifying results
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– The Autosport.com Team
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