Gasly charges to sensational maiden F1 pole at Monza over Russell and Piastri

Alpine driver Pierre Gasly earned a brilliant first-ever F1 pole position at the Italian Grand Prix, edging out Mercedes’ George Russell and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in a pulsating Qualifying session around the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.

Gasly, who claimed his maiden F1 win at the Temple of Speed back in 2020, featured towards the front of the times throughout Saturday’s Qualifying hour, as the Frenchman and his recently updated, Mercedes-powered car shone.

Sitting third to Russell and Piastri after the opening Q3 runs, Gasly sent shockwaves through the paddock when he pumped in a time of 1m 21.786s on his final lap – launching ahead of his Mercedes and McLaren rivals in the process.

Behind them, Ferrari’s practice form faded and resulted in P4 and P5 for Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, with Max Verstappen sixth for Red Bull and home racer Kimi Antonelli seventh in the other Silver Arrow, prior to taking his engine penalty.

Franco Colapinto made it two cars in the final phase for Alpine, as the re-signed Argentinian placed eighth, ahead of Lando Norris (who, like team mate Piastri, struggled with his brakes throughout Qualifying) and Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad.

Hamilton’s place in Q3 was secured by the finest of margins, with Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto only one thousandth of a second slower across their final Q2 runs, leaving the Brazilian 11th on the grid from Ollie Bearman’s upgraded Haas-Ferrari and team mate Nico Hulkenberg.

Liam Lawson, also taking a grid drop for a power unit change this weekend, ended Qualifying down in 14th position, having been impeded by Piastri on his final Q2 lap, in an incident the stewards noted.

After his encouraging performance at the Dutch Grand Prix last time out, Yuki Tsunoda’s second weekend as a Racing Bulls stand-in is proving to be more challenging – the Japanese racer falling at the first Qualifying hurdle in 17th, while Lindblad placed fifth.

Another driver with an engine-related grid penalty, Alexander Albon played the team game by giving a Q1 tow to Sainz, putting the Briton 18th, ahead of only Cadillac drivers Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez, and the Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.

AS IT HAPPENED

Q1 – Gasly impresses as tow games begin

After Saturday’s third and final practice session, topped by Russell over Hamilton and Verstappen, attention swiftly turned to Qualifying, and how the battle for pole position – gaining an effective tow again looking set to be a key part of that – would play out.

When the green light switched on at the end of the pit lane at 1600 local time and Q1 began, three drivers knew they would be dropping down the grid as a result of power unit changes and penalties – those being championship leader Antonelli, Albon and Lawson.

It begged an obvious question: would Antonelli and Lawson be used to assist Russell and Verstappen’s respective Q3 bids? First, they all had to get there, with the field squabbling for track position – and that fine balance between clear air and a slipstream – in the early stages of the opening phase.

While the Mercedes, Racing Bulls and Alpine cars bided their time in the pits, the first flurry of lap times brought a 1m 22.631s from Verstappen, followed closely by Hamilton, Piastri, and Leclerc, with Norris backing out of a lap but going again and slotting into fifth.

A few minutes later, Gasly (1m 22.612s) and Colapinto (1m 22.662s) surged to P1 and P3, sandwiching Verstappen’s Red Bull, before Antonelli took P4 and Russell P5 (the latter on mediums, rather than softs) with efforts in the 1m 22.7s bracket.

Another eye-catching lap then came from Bearman with his upgraded Haas machine and new Ferrari power unit, which put him a provisional P8, between the works red cars of Hamilton and Leclerc, and the papaya McLarens of Piastri and Norris.

At the other end of the timing screen, Hulkenberg, Albon, Bottas, Alonso, Stroll and Perez were the drivers in the drop zone, with some five minutes left on the Q1 clock and another round of laps set to follow through to the chequered flag.

After the slipstreaming train of cars had crossed the line one more time, Gasly was confirmed as the Q1 pace-setter with his earlier effort, in front of Verstappen, an improved Norris, Colapinto and FP3 star Lindblad, who also made gains on his final run.

All was not well at McLaren, though, with Norris asking his engineer, “Is there nothing else I can do about these brakes right now? I just think it’s going to go wrong into Turn 1.” His team mate, Piastri, had similar struggles en route to P11, behind the Mercedes and Ferrari cars, and Bearman’s Haas.

Bortoleto and Hulkenberg made it safely through to Q2 for Audi in P12 and P14, around the other Red Bull of Lawson, with Sainz (aided by a tow from his team mate) and Ocon the final drivers to progress at the expense of a struggling Tsunoda, Albon, the Cadillacs and the Aston Martins.

Knocked out: Tsunoda, Albon, Bottas, Perez, Alonso, Stroll

Q2 – Antonelli fastest as Hamilton squeezes through

After a short break, Q2 got under way, with Red Bull quick to make their move and deliver banker laps – Verstappen clocking a 1m 22.573s and Lawson a 1m 22.828s. All was not well for the Dutchman, as he reported: “The car is broken on the rear axle again. It’s really undriveable in Turn 2, 4 and 5.”

Once the rest of the remaining 16 drivers had got in on the action, Piastri held the P1 time on a 1m 22.017s, just ahead of team mate Norris, with Gasly again flying high in third from Mercedes pair Russell and Antonelli, Lindblad, Colapinto and Leclerc.

Hamilton, meanwhile, was back in 11th, behind Bortoleto and Verstappen, meaning the seven-time World Champion had work to do on his second run. Bearman, Lawson, Hulkenberg, Sainz and Ocon were the other drivers in the drop zone at this point.

Amid a flurry of improvements, Antonelli finished Q2 at the top of the times via a 1m 21.882s, from the McLarens, Gasly’s Alpine, team mate Russell and Verstappen, with Lindblad, Colapinto, Leclerc and an under-pressure Hamilton grabbing the final Q3 spots.

It was a genuine scare for Hamilton, who wound up just 0.001s faster than Bortoleto, while there were no other significant changes in the drop zone – Lawson left furious at being baulked by Piastri through the first chicane, which the stewards duly noted.

Knocked out: Bortoleto, Bearman, Hulkenberg, Lawson, Sainz, Ocon

Q3 – Gasly shocks rivals for maiden F1 pole

Another breather behind them, the top-10 drivers emerged from the pits for the decisive pole position shoot-out – Russell getting a tow from Antonelli en route to a provisional P1 time of 1m 21.929s, marginally up on Piastri and Gasly.

Leclerc was the fastest Ferrari driver over the first runs in fourth, ahead of Verstappen, Norris, Lindblad, team mate Hamilton and Colapinto. Antonelli then completed a lap out of sync with his rivals – after that tow for Russell – to move up to sixth place.

Despite sitting at the top of the order, Russell was not feeling comfortable behind the wheel of his Mercedes. “I’m really struggling with the car compared to FP3,” he commented over the radio. “Just front locking and instability in high-speed.”

Drama ensued at the start of the final runs when Piastri again missed his entry to the first chicane, but there were plenty of green and purple sector times behind – particularly from Gasly and his Alpine.

As the mini-sectors ticked by, an upset looked more and more possible, with Gasly ultimately posting a 1m21.786s to jump ahead of Piastri and Russell (despite the latter’s own improvement) and take pole for the first time in F1.

While Gasly screamed over the radio in delight, the Ferraris of Leclerc and Hamilton had to settle for fourth and fifth, as Verstappen, Antonelli (before his penalty), Colapinto, Norris (who failed to improve on his last lap) and Lindblad completed the Q3 order.

Key quote

“It was amazing,” said Gasly afterwards. “It was an incredible Qualifying. From the first lap in Q1, I felt very good in the car. I was trying to chip a little bit away every single session and then in the end [in Q3], it felt like a very good lap. I’m so happy. It’s been nine years trying to chase and get the opportunity to take pole position. I won my first race in Monza, and to get my first pole position on this track… I think is something special around here.”

What's next

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