Pierre Gasly secured pole position for the Italian Grand Prix, marking one of the season's biggest surprises. The result came just a day after Gasly was retrospectively stripped of his podium finish from the Monaco Grand Prix in June, a decision delivered by the FIA's International Court of Appeal that has caused significant discussion within the racing community.
Gasly, who drives for Alpine and lives near the Monza circuit, edged out George Russell by a mere 0.060 seconds to claim the top spot. Oscar Piastri qualified third for McLaren, with Charles Leclerc fourth and Lewis Hamilton fifth. Hamilton's Ferrari did not appear to be performing at the expected level, with the seven-time world champion only narrowly making it into the top 10 qualifying session, by one-thousandth of a second.
During qualifying, an incident occurred between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. The two drivers found themselves nearly wheel-to-wheel as Hamilton attempted to overtake Verstappen. Verstappen voiced his displeasure, stating, "He caused that," while Hamilton responded, "I got blocked by Max." Hamilton's Ferrari race engineer, Carlo Santi, confirmed their awareness of the situation, saying, "Yes, we saw."
This pole position is Gasly's first and comes six years after his sole career victory, also achieved at Monza while driving for AlphaTauri.
"We had the car to challenge for pole. We were surprised to see us up there," Gasly commented after qualifying. "I didn't want to get too excited but I was third after the first run in Q3 and I knew I had a shot at it, and I had a true chance. I left it all out there. Crossing the line, I knew it would be a lap that would be rewarded – but a chance to get to pole position, I didn't expect that. It is definitely one of those laps that I will put up there. It has been emotional with everything going on this weekend, and I have been trying to stick to my job and that is what we did."
He added, "I am really proud and happy to have seized this chance. It was a heck of a lap. Nine years waiting for that feeling. I got my first win here in Monza and now my first pole, too. It is a special place for me, a unique track."
For Lewis Hamilton, the Italian Grand Prix weekend began with him arriving in a classic Ferrari F40 and expressing a desire to be the first black winner of the race. However, his performance in qualifying suggests the Ferrari car may not be competitive enough for a victory.
Russell's qualifying performance was strong, positioning him to potentially gain ground in the championship. He currently trails his Mercedes teammate, 20-year-old Kimi Antonelli, by 59 points with 11 races remaining. Antonelli will start Sunday's race from the back of the grid despite receiving a new engine.
Aston Martin, meanwhile, continued to struggle, with Lance Stroll qualifying at the very back of the field and Fernando Alonso starting just ahead of him.