MONZA, Italy — Reigning world champion Max Verstappen recorded another vintage lap to beat Lando Norris to pole position as Ferrari faded in the key moment of qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix.
Verstappen’s late 1:18.792 lap time pushed Norris off the top spot, after the McLaren driver briefly held the top spot with his own last run in Q3.
“Around here with the low downforce it’s very difficult to nail the lap,” Verstappen said afterwards. “Under braking it’s easy to make mistakes.
“Q3 felt good, [I’m] happy with the laps and to be on pole here is fantastic. The car has been working well here the whole weekend and to be able to fight for pole I’m very happy. We were still lacking a tiny amount [going into qualifying]. We made some final changes which allowed me to push a bit more which is exactly what you need in qualifying. For us it’s a great moment.”
Norris, up against it in the title fight now after his race retirement at the Dutch Grand Prix last week, avoided a scare by progressing from Q2 in the final moments. While he did not do enough for pole, he did edge out McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri for second place. As a result, Piastri will share the second row of the grid with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Leclerc had been within 0.1 seconds of Verstappen after the first runs in Q3 but he was unable to improve on his time at the final attempt and finished 0.215 seconds adrift.
It will set up a tantalizing long run down to Monza’s famous first chicane, with the title contenders sandwiched between Verstappen — who has not won since the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in May — and Leclerc looking to repeat his popular win for Ferrari last year at the team’s famous home race.
Norris has struggled in wheel-to-wheel fights with Verstappen at times this season but will want to dispatch the Red Bull driver quickly on Sunday’s race.
“Max has been quick all weekend and it’s never a surprise with Max,” Norris said afterwards. “It was quite a session for me, just up and down and too many mistakes here and there. To put it all together on the last lap was pretty happy so [I’m] happy with P2.
“I always give my result based on how I drove on the day. I feel like I didn’t do the best of jobs but P2 I’m still happy with. Good things and bad things.”
Piastri downplayed the suggestion he played it safe in qualifying because of his 34-point championship lead.
When asked what went wrong for him in Q3, he said: “Nothing major. “Turn 1 was a little bit average but the rest of the lap all felt pretty tidy. I felt like I executed a pretty good session, built up a little bit at the start, found my feet but I think it has been incredibly tight this weekend.
“Max and Red Bull looked quick this weekend, I mean to be honest a lot of teams looked quick, it’s not been quite as comfortable for us.”
Leclerc’s teammate Lewis Hamilton qualified fifth, but will drop down five places because of the grid penalty he came into the race with. That will promote the cars of his former team Mercedes, George Russell and national favourite Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Sauber rookie Gabriel Bortoleto, Fernando Alonso and Yuki Tsunoda.
Oliver Bearman and Nico Hulkenberg settled for 11th and 12th after narrowly missing out on a spot in Q3.
There were no major surprises elsewhere, although Williams watched their strong practice pace disappear when it counted, with Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon managing 13th and 14th only.
Haas driver Esteban Ocon was 15th. After his maiden podium finish at the Dutch Grand Prix a week ago Isack Hadjar was brought back to earth with a bang, being eliminated in Q1.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll also failed to make it through to the second session, along with Alpine’s Franco Colapinto, who out-qualified teammate Pierre Gasly on a day the Frenchman’s new 2028 contract extension was confirmed.
Barring any penalties ahead Hadjar’s Racing Bulls teammate Liam Lawson will line up at the back of the grid after qualifying 20th.
