Verstappen beats Norris and Piastri to pole for Italian GP in Qualifying thriller

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen pulled another lap out of the bag to claim pole position for the Italian Grand Prix, pipping McLaren rivals Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in an incredibly close Qualifying session at Monza.

Following their “very tough” weekend at the Temple of Speed last season, Verstappen and Red Bull have looked much more competitive at this year’s event, with the Dutchman emerging as a genuine threat to McLaren’s supremacy.

As a heart-stopping Qualifying hour drew to a close, Verstappen initially led the way in the decisive Q3 phase, before being overhauled by Norris but then fighting back with a blistering lap of 1m 18.792s to seal P1 by 0.077s.

Piastri was 0.190s back in third, from the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, who could not quite deliver enough for the front row – the seven-time World Champion nonetheless losing five places with his pre-event grid penalty.

Mercedes used a different tyre strategy to their rivals when Qualifying began, starting out on the medium tyres, before the transition to softs yielded sixth and seventh on the grid for George Russell and home driver Kimi Antonelli respectively.

Gabriel Bortoleto was one of Saturday’s stars en route to eighth for Kick Sauber, continuing the outfit’s positive trajectory under new team boss Jonathan Wheatley, while Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda completed the top 10.

Ollie Bearman led the Haas team’s charge in 11th, missing out on a Q3 spot by just one hundredth of a second, with Nico Hulkenberg 12th in the second of the Kick Sauber machines after struggling to match the pace of high-flying team mate Bortoleto.

Williams caught the eye during Friday practice but slipped down the order through FP3 and failed to make an impression in the grid-deciding session – Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon having to settle for 13th and 14th places from the other Haas of Esteban Ocon.

After his dream run to a maiden podium finish at the Dutch Grand Prix last time out, Isack Hadjar suffered a painful Q1 exit, having made a mistake on his final run, leaving the Racing Bulls rookie 16th for Sunday’s race over the other Aston Martin of Lance Stroll.

Franco Colapinto experienced a difficult start to the Monza weekend but managed to out-pace Alpine team mate Pierre Gasly in Qualifying, on the day of the Frenchman’s contract renewal, while Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) lost a lap to track limits and wound up slowest.

AS IT HAPPENED

Q1 – Russell fastest on alternate tyre strategy

After three practice sessions around Monza, one topped by home favourites Ferrari and two by McLaren, attention turned to the all-important Qualifying hour, which got under way in front of a passionate capacity crowd at 1600 local time.

When the green light switched on at the end of the pit lane, there was a slight divergence in tyre strategy, with the majority of the field opting for Pirelli’s soft compound tyres from the outset but Mercedes pair Antonelli and Russell initially running mediums.

While McLaren, Racing Bulls and Williams driver Albon bided their time in the pit lane, Leclerc brought the first cheers from the Tifosi by clocking an early benchmark of 1m 19.801s, before Hamilton slotted into second by lapping just over a tenth slower.

McLaren made their first move a few minutes later, Norris going quickest on a 1m 19.611s and Piastri making it a papaya 1-2, while there was trouble for Williams as both Sainz (exiting Lesmo 2) and Albon (at the first chicane) lost track limes for exceeding track limits.

As the McLarens headed to the pits for a reset, a host of drivers got second runs on the board – medium-shod Russell moving to the top with a 1m 19.414s, Sainz bouncing back to go third for Williams, and Alonso, Bortoleto and Leclerc all getting ahead of Piastri.

At the other end of the order, the Alpines of Gasly and Colapinto, Antonelli, the Haas of Ocon and the Racing Bulls of Lawson were all in the drop zone. “The balance was okay, I just had no grip,” reported Antonelli after that first sequence on mediums.

“Guys, I’m alone in front, exactly what we said we shouldn’t do,” sighed Ocon as he led the field back out for the decisive final runs, the Frenchman having to punch a hole in the air ahead while drivers behind positioned themselves for distant tows.

With green and purple sector times being pumped in, there were changes all over the timing screen through to the chequered flag and beyond – just over four-tenths of a second ultimately separating pace-setter Russell and the Q2 cut-off.

Hadjar was the driver who narrowly missed out after an out-lap tussle with Sainz and a moment exiting Lesmo 2, which yielded a hugely frustrated radio message, while Stroll, Colapinto, Gasly and Lawson (who ran wide at Lesmo 1 and lost a lap time) also dropped out.

Russell remained in the pits and in P1 as the opening phase drew to a close, ahead of Verstappen, Norris, Tsunoda and Sainz, with Alonso, Bortoleto, Bearman, Leclerc and Piastri completing the top 10. Antonelli and Hamilton made it through in P11 and P12 respectively.

Knocked out: Hadjar, Stroll, Colapinto, Gasly, Lawson

Q2 – Verstappen moves to P1 as Norris survives scare

There was a slightly longer break than usual between segments as marshals cleared away gravel from various sections of the track, only for Albon to run too deep at the Ascari chicane on his first Q2 effort and flick more stones onto the tarmac – heavily compromising that lap.

Drama followed for Norris when he locked up heavily into the first chicane, took to the run-off area and abandoned his lap. “We need to box,” his race engineer commented over the radio, while Verstappen moved into P1 on a 1m 19.140s from Russell and Piastri.

Bortoleto held an impressive fourth following his Q2 opener, from Leclerc, Tsunoda, Antonelli and Hamilton, with Sainz and Bearman occupying the final top 10 positions. That meant Alonso, Ocon, Albon (via his own lock-up into Turn 1), Hulkenberg and Norris were the drivers in danger.

Norris unsurprisingly rejoined the action as quickly as he could to get a banker on the board, but a 1m 19.451s only put him seventh. While the Briton could cool his tyres and go again, would he be able to deliver any more time on that used set compared to his rivals’ new ones?

After falling into the drop zone and raising heart rates on the McLaren pit wall, the out-of-sync Norris produced a lap when it mattered to shoot up to fifth, behind Russell, team mate Piastri, a much-improved Antonelli and Verstappen, whose low 1m 19s time remained the benchmark.

With just under three-tenths this time covering that P1 lap to the Q3 cut-off, Leclerc, Bortoleto, Alonso, Hamilton and Tsunoda were the final drivers to make it through to the pole position shootout, denying both Haas cars, Hulkenberg and both Williams drivers.

Knocked out: Bearman, Hulkenberg, Sainz, Albon and Ocon

Q3 – More magic from Verstappen for pole

A few minutes later, it was time for the Q3 segment everyone had been waiting for, and the opening runs brought a vintage Monza experience – Piastri initially leading the way for McLaren, Leclerc taking over for Ferrari and Verstappen then storming to P1 in his Red Bull.

Norris endured another tricky start to the phase, only going seventh with his first effort, behind the other Ferrari of Hamilton, the lead Mercedes of Russell and Bortoleto’s Sauber, as Antonelli, Tsunoda and Alonso provisionally rounded out the order.

Following a pause in the pit lane, the 10 cars fired back into life and gave fans another treat across the final runs to the flag – Norris putting those aforementioned dramas behind him to take P1 away from Verstappen on a 1m 18.869s.

All eyes then turned to Verstappen, who brilliantly got down to a new lap record time of 1m 18.792s and brought pole position back into his hands, leaving Norris to settle for second over Piastri and the two Ferraris.

Hamilton was just over a tenth slower than team mate Leclerc in fifth but will take a five-place grid penalty on race day, promoting Russell (who requested medium tyres for his last lap but was given softs), Antonelli, Bortoleto, Alonso and Tsunoda.

Key quote

“I try!” Verstappen said, when asked if that was the usual ‘Verstappen magic’. “I think around here with the low downforce, it’s always very difficult to nail the lap – under braking it’s easy to make mistakes also, but Q3 felt good. I was happy with the laps, and of course to be on pole here for us is fantastic. The car’s been working a lot better the whole weekend, and to be able to fight for pole, I’m very happy with that.”

What’s next

The 2025 Italian Grand Grand Prix is set to begin at 1500 local time on Sunday. Head to the RACE HUB to find out how you can catch the action from Monza.