Max Verstappen on pole at Monza ahead of Lando Norris

There were 20 drivers within a second of each other at the end of Free Practice 3. It was then predictable that qualifying would be particularly undecided. And it was! At the end of the first attempt at Q3, five drivers from four different teams were within two tenths of each other. It was necessary to wait until the final attempt to find out which of them Verstappen, Leclerc, Piastres, Hamilton or Russell would be the fastest, and in that game, it's the Dutchman from Red Bull who was the quickest.

Max Verstappen took pole position ahead of Lando Norris, who will join him on the front row on Sunday. The Briton had a chaotic session: after a misfire in Q2, he had to abort an attempt and lose a set of tires, before finishing only 7th in his first lap of Q3. But at the right moment, Lando Norris set an excellent lap to secure a front row, which gave him an advantage over his teammate Oscar Piastri, who was 3rd.

Ferrari was not far from pole

Behind the men in papaya, those in red follow in the ranking: Charles Leclerc will start 4th, while Lewis Hamilton, who set the 5th fastest time, will start 10th following his five-place penalty received at Zandvoort for not slowing down enough under yellow flags. A slight disappointment for Classic Ferrari for sale, who was able to play for pole position until the last attempt, where neither driver managed to improve his time.

A week after his stunning podium finish in the Netherlands, Isack Hadjar suffered a disappointment in Italy: the Frenchman was eliminated for the first time in his career in Q1. Sixteenth fastest, he will start last after receiving a penalty for an engine change, and will be joined on the back row by his teammate Liam Lawson.

The other disappointment comes from Williams, usually very efficient on fast circuits. Both Grove cars stopped in Q2, as Esteban Ocon (15th). His former teammate, Pierre Gasly, also stopped in Q1 (18th), where he was beaten by his teammate Franco Colapinto (17th). Scoring points looks like a near-impossible mission for Alpine this week-end.

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F1 – Italian Grand Prix 

The qualifying rankings