Gasly snatches maiden F1 pole at Monza to deny Russell a fifth of the season

Pierre Gasly took the first pole position of his Formula 1 career at the Italian Grand Prix on Saturday, edging Mercedes’ George Russell by 0.060 seconds in a breathless Q3 shootout at Monza. The Alpine driver’s landmark lap came at the same circuit where he claimed his maiden grand prix victory, adding another milestone chapter to his career at the 5.8km track.

Russell had struck first in the final segment with a 1m21.929s lap, with the entire top ten covered by less than two tenths of a second. The closeness of the field made slipstreaming critical, and Russell appeared well-placed with team-mate Kimi Antonelli — set to start from the back due to an engine penalty — assigned to tow him around the circuit.

Gasly, however, played his hand perfectly. The Frenchman latched onto a slipstream from Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and delivered an outstanding lap to leapfrog Russell at the top of the timesheets. It was a tactical masterclass that denied the Mercedes driver what would have been his fifth pole of the season.

Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc completed the second row in fourth and fifth, while Hamilton and Max Verstappen lined up sixth and seventh. Antonelli qualified seventh but drops to the back due to his penalty, promoting Franco Colapinto to seventh on the grid.

Lando Norris was a frustrated ninth after failing to secure a slipstream from team-mate Piastri, who ran wide at Turn 1 and ruined his own lap in the process, leaving Norris to run without a tow. Piastri is also expected to be investigated for blocking Liam Lawson during the session. Arvid Lindblad qualified tenth and moves up to ninth following Antonelli’s grid drop.

In Q2, Hamilton had found himself in the elimination zone after appearing to catch traffic on his first run, leaving the seven-time world champion needing a strong final effort. He delivered, improving by half a tenth to demote Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto by a razor-thin 0.001 seconds and keep Ferrari in the top ten. Leclerc, also under pressure in ninth, was unable to improve his own time.

Bortoleto was eliminated in 11th, followed by Haas’ Oliver Bearman in 12th — the Briton benefiting from an upgraded car and power unit. Lawson was knocked out in 13th, which denied Red Bull the chance to give Verstappen a tow in Q3. Lawson, standing in for the injured Isack Hadjar for a second consecutive weekend, will join Antonelli at the rear of the grid after also receiving an engine penalty.