Max Verstappen took on the shock pole position before Rand Norris in the unpredictable qualifying session for the Italian Grand Prix.
The Dutch were only leading the third quarter, and it seemed McLaren and Ferrari drivers were most likely to compete for top spot. But Verstappen peaked at the right moment. He was perfectly positioned in his first run, picking up a slipstream from teammate Yuki Tsunoda, and piped as one of the last drivers in just 0.084 seconds and Oscar Piastri in 0.133 seconds. However, his positioning got even better the second time when he left the pit lane just behind Piastri and Norris to pick up strong towings from both the McLaren driver and his major pole rivals.
Norris spins into the top spot on the final lap, but Verstappen landed the final punch, setting a new track record at 1M 18.792, defeating the UK 0.077 seconds on the fifth pole of the season, beating the first since the UK’s Grand Prix in July.
“Q3 feels good, I’m happy with the rap,” he said. “It’s great to ride the pole here, the cars work much better here all weekend.
“It’s tough. We were still short on a small amount (after FP3). We made some final changes so we can push a little more. That’s exactly what you need for qualifying.
However, the four-time champions were more cautious about the possibility of converting Paul into a victory.
“Historically, racing has always been a little more complicated for us this season, but we’re trying to give it everything we have,” he said.
Norris was equally relieved and frustrated about saving second place after a crude qualifying session in the second quarter where he was almost eliminated. The title challenger was locked in the first chicane on the first lap of the middle segment and forced into the pit for fresh tires and alternative ramp plans.
Britton was given a push-cool kush program that tried to make the most of his opportunity, but his first lap was lukewarm and fell outside ten near the end of the session. He crossed the starting line with enough time to set up another flying lap, and McLaren deployed a piastry to give his teammates a slipstream to help him progress.
Norris also benefited from slipstreams elsewhere around the car truck in the cooldown lap to see his location in Q3. His first lap in the third quarter, set without a slipstream, left him more than half a second away from Verstappen seven times in provisional order. However, his second lap slipstream from Piastri moved him to the front row and approached what became the fifth pole of the season.
“It was quite a session for me, just up and down,” he said. “There are too many mistakes.
“It feels like I didn’t do the best of jobs, but to finish P2, I’m still happy with it. P2 is not in a bad position from the line.”
Piastri lamented his own qualifying performance and he was open to defeat, but he said that the proximity of the session did not surprise him after Paul was missing 0.19 seconds.
“Turn 1 was a bit average, but the rest of the lap was all pretty neat,” he said. “I feel like I’ve done a pretty good session, and I think it was incredibly tight this weekend.
“Max and Red Bull will be visible right away this weekend. To be honest, a lot of the teams look faster. That wasn’t that comfortable for us.”
Ferrari went from a 0.215 and 0.332 seconds pace to 0.332 seconds, prior to the relatively distant fourth and fifth Lewis Hamilton.
Hamilton will be 10th on the grid after receiving a fifth-place penalty for a yellow flag violation from the Dutch Grand Prix last weekend.
Mercedes teammates George Russell and Andrea Kimmi Antonelli matched closely for the sixth and seventh time, 0.365 seconds and 0.408 seconds. They share the third row in Sunday’s race following the Hamilton penalty.
Gabriel Boltreto appeared in the 8th midfielder, 0.598 seconds from Paul using his final six Grands Prix fourth Q3 appearance.
Fernando Alonso is ninth ahead of third-quarter Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda for the second time in the last 10 rounds.
Oliver Baerman came in 11th and missed the top 10 berth by just 0.013 seconds ahead of Nico Halkenberg, who hasn’t appeared in the first quarter of the season.
For Williams, a big weekend hope was hit by Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon on the 13th and 14th. The team tried to arrange a slipstream during the second quarter and ran from the sequence with other drivers, but to no avail.
Esteban Ocon was knocked out on the 15th as a driver for the 15th quarter.
Isack Hadjar was eliminated at 16, but was only 0.08 seconds short of the second quarter spot. The Frenchman, who never got knocked out from the first quarter before this weekend, was just 0.503 seconds from the top spot in the close opening stanza of qualifying. Hajar later confirmed that he would start in pit lane anyway to change his power unit overnight.
Thus, Lance’s walk will be in 16th place after the first quarter elimination of the season and a sixth failure past the first quarter from the last seven rounds.
Franco Colapinto outperformed Alpine teammate Pierre Guthrie in 0.111 seconds ahead of Race Bulls driver Liam Lawson. All three will be promoted to the location following a Hajah penalty.
result
