Sainz edges Verstappen and Leclerc to pole in ultra-close Italian GP qualifying.
Carlos Sainz came out on top at the end of a thrilling qualifying hour for the Italian Grand Prix as the Ferrari driver narrowly got the better of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and team mate Charles Leclerc to secure his first pole position of the season.
Sainz led the way after the first Q3 runs but improvements from Verstappen and Leclerc meant the Spaniard needed another gain of his own to get the job done – a 1m 20.294s giving him top spot by little more than one hundredth of a second.
Verstappen and Leclerc had to settle for second and third, with less than a tenth of a second covering the top-three positions, while Mercedes’ George Russell beat the other Red Bull of Sergio Perez for the ‘best of the rest’ spot.
There was some concern for Ferrari earlier in the session, as both Sainz and Leclerc came under the spotlight for potentially failing to follow the Race Director’s instructions regarding maximum lap time, but the stewards confirmed there would be no further action just as the pole shootout ended.
Alex Albon produced another fine qualifying display to take sixth for Williams, while McLaren pair Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris sandwiched Lewis Hamilton in positions seven to nine, and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso completed the top 10 places.
AlphaTauri came close to getting into Q3 on their home soil, but ultimately had to settle for 11th with Yuki Tsunoda and 12th with Liam Lawson, the latter continuing to close on his team mate after a solid start to his F1 career in the Netherlands.
Nico Hulkenberg was the fastest of the Haas drivers on his way to 13th position, with Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas and Williams’ Logan Sargeant – via a costly mistake on his final lap – the other drivers to drop out in Q2.
Zhou Guanyu narrowly missed out on a Q2 spot in the other Alfa Romeo after losing a lap time for exceeding track limits, leaving him 16th, while Alpine followed up their podium finish at Zandvoort with a surprise double elimination in the opening phase – Pierre Gasly taking 17th after team mate Esteban Ocon experienced a wild moment at the Ascari chicane.
The final two spots on the grid for Sunday’s race go to the Haas of Kevin Magnussen and the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll, who felt the effects of missing FP1 to give reserve driver Felipe Drugovich a run in the AMR23 and then sitting out most of FP2 amid technical issues.