Verstappen pulls off shock pole at Monza

Max Verstappen took a shock pole position ahead of Lando Norris in an unpredictable qualifying session for the Italian Grand Prix.

The Dutchman had been only thereabouts in the lead-up to Q3, with the McLaren and Ferrari drivers looking most likely to contend for top spot. But Verstappen peaked at the right moment. He was positioned perfectly on his first run to pick up a slipstream from teammate Yuki Tsunoda as one of the last drivers on track to pip Charles Leclerc by just 0.084s and Oscar Piastri by 0.133s. But his positioning was even better the second time around, when he exited pit lane directly behind Piastri and Norris to pick up a powerful tow from both McLaren drivers and his chief pole rivals.

Norris rotated into top spot with his final lap, but Verstappen landed his final punch to set a new track record with a time of 1m 18.792s, beating the Briton by 0.077s for his fifth pole of the season and his first since July’s British Grand Prix.

“Q3 felt good, I’m happy with the laps,” he said. “To be on pole here is fantastic. The car’s been working a lot better here all weekend.

“It was tight. We were still lacking a tiny amount [after FP3]. We made some final changes which I think allowed me to push a bit more. That’s exactly what you need in qualifying. For us it’s a great moment.”

But the reigning four-time champion was more circumspect about the likelihood of converting pole to victory.

“Historically this season the race has always been a little bit more complicated for us, but we’re going to give it everything we have,” he said.

Norris was in equal parts relieved and frustrated to salvage second place after a scrappy qualifying session that almost had him eliminated in Q2. The title challenger locked up at the first chicane on his first lap of the middle segment and was forced to pit for fresh tires and an alternative run plan.

The Briton was given a push-cool-cool-push program to try to make the most of his reduced opportunity, but his first lap was only lukewarm and had him drop outside the 10 near the end of the session. He crossed the start line with just enough time remaining to set another flying lap, and McLaren deployed Piastri to give his teammate a slipstream to aid his progress.

Norris also benefitted from slipstreams elsewhere around the track from cars on their cool-down laps to confirm his place in Q3. His first lap in Q3, which was set without a slipstream, left him seventh in the provisional order and more than half a second off Verstappen. But a slipstream from Piastri on his second lap powered him to the front row and achingly close to what would have been a fifth pole for the season.

“It was quite a session for me, just up and down,” he said. “Too many mistakes.

“I feel like I didn’t do the best of jobs, but to end up P2, I’m still happy with it. P2’s not a bad position off the line.”

Piastri lamented his own qualifying performance left him open to defeat, though he said the closeness of the session didn’t surprise him after missing pole by 0.19s.

“Turn 1 was a little bit average, but the rest of the lap all felt pretty tidy,” he said. “I feel like I executed a pretty good session. I think it’s just been incredibly tight this weekend.

“Max and Red Bull look quick this weekend — to be honest, a lot of teams look quick. It’s not been quite as comfortable for us.”

Ferrari ended up a relatively distant fourth and fifth, Charles Leclerc ahead of Lewis Hamilton, and 0.215s and 0.332s off the pace respectively.

Hamilton will be demoted to 10th on the grid after getting a five-place penalty for a yellow flag infringement from last weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix.

Mercedes teammates George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli were closely matched in sixth and seventh in the order, 0.365s and 0.408s off the pace. They’ll share the third row in Sunday’s race following Hamilton’s penalty.

Gabriel Bortoleto used his fourth Q3 appearance from the last six grands prix to qualify at the head of the midfield in eighth and 0.598s off pole.

Fernando Alonso followed in ninth ahead of Yuki Tsunoda — the Japanese driver in Q3 for just the second time in the last 10 rounds — who completed the order 0.727s behind his pole-getting teammate.

Oliver Bearman qualified 11th, missing a top-10 berth by only 0.013s, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, who is yet to make his first Q3 appearance of the season.

Hopes of a big weekend for Williams were dealt a blow by Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon qualifying 13th and 14th. The team even attempted to arrange a slipstream between them during Q2, running them out of sequence with the other drivers, but to no avail.

Esteban Ocon was knocked out in 15th as the slowest driver of Q2.

Isack Hadjar was eliminated in 16th but just 0.08s short of a spot in Q2. The Frenchman, who had never been knocked out of Q1 before this weekend, was only 0.503s off top spot in a tight opening stanza to qualifying, which he said was affected by traffic and then a mistake. Hadjar later confirmed he would start from pit lane anyway for changing his power unit overnight.

Lance Stroll will therefore line up 16th after his 11th Q1 elimination of the season and his sixth failure to make it past Q1 from the last seven rounds.

Franco Colapinto outqualified Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly by 0.111s in 18th and 19th ahead of Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson, who abandoned his final flying lap after running off the track at the second Lesmo turn. All three will be promoted a place following Hadjar’s penalty.

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