F1 Italian GP: Max Verstappen snatches pole from McLaren, Ferrari

Max Verstappen rocketed to pole position for the Italian Grand Prix, beating Lando Norris’ best effort of the session despite the McLaren Formula 1 driver’s recovery.

Verstappen bounced onto the scene in Q2 and set the fastest time in the middle stage, demonstrating strong pace in the high-speed first and third sectors following Red Bull’s decision to trim its car out.

Norris, meanwhile, struggled through the middle session; the McLaren driver had to abort an earlier effort and was instructed to set a banker lap before two cool laps, ahead of a final push.

That final effort ensured that Norris, who had dropped into the bottom five of Q2 through Hamilton’s escape from the relegation zone, could breathe a sigh of relief.

Norris didn’t set a particularly stellar first effort in Q3, and was almost half a second off Verstappen’s opening benchmark of a 1m18.923s. He was able to recover, however, and briefly factored at the top with his follow-up 1m18.869s.

Verstappen then reasserted his authority with a 1m18.792s, showcasing a significant turnaround in Red Bull’s fortunes at Monza after last year’s dismal weekend.

Oscar Piastri was third fastest, just over a tenth behind his team-mate, and will start alongside Charles Leclerc in Sunday’s race.

Leclerc set a 1m19.007s in his opening Q3 effort, but was unable to spark celebrations from the tifosi in his second run as he failed to improve.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

Photo by: Philippe Lopez / AFP / Getty Images

Lewis Hamilton was fifth fastest over George Russell, whose request to run with mediums in Q3 was denied; Andrea Kimi Antonelli qualified seventh. Gabriel Bortoleto, Fernando Alonso, and Yuki Tsunoda completed the top 10 – the latter used to help Verstappen on his opening run of Q3.

Oliver Bearman was dumped out in Q2 at the last minute at the expense of Norris; Bearman was just 0.3s off Verstappen’s Q2 best, while Nico Hulkenberg also fell the wrong side of the cut line and found himself outqualified once more by team-mate Bortoleto.

Williams’ practice promise was not delivered upon as neither Carlos Sainz not Alexander Albon could do enough to improve in the final runs and they qualified only 13th and 14th, while Esteban Ocon’s session also ran aground in Q2.

Dutch GP podium finisher Isack Hadjar was unable to reprise his Zandvoort heroics and was dumped out in Q1 by Albon, in an extraordinarily tight session; the Frenchman was only 0.5s away from George Russell’s first-stage qualifying headliner.

Albon chiselled Hadjar out of the top 15 by 0.08s, but only rose to 15th place himself as he escaped the drop. Hadjar is set to take a penalty for a change in power unit components for tomorrow’s race, and his lowly result will have made the decision easier.

Lance Stroll improved on his final run but was unable to get out of the bottom five, a fate which befell Alpine pair Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly. Liam Lawson was slowest, having aborted his final run.