Norris tops Piastri for Italian GP pole, Verstappen seventh

McLaren has continued to take the fight to Red Bull in the Formula 1 Constructor’s Championship, locking out the front row for this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

Lando Norris out-qualified teammate Oscar Piastri in this morning’s qualifying to secure pole, while world champion Max Verstappen struggled for pace and will start from seventh alongside teammate Sergio Perez.

“Another pole, which is amazing,” said Norris. “To have a first and second in Qualifying is a little bit of a surprise when the field has been as tight as it has all weekend. The team has done an amazing job.

“It would be great to replicate this tomorrow, but it’s been very, very close on track. There are a lot of very quick drivers behind in quick cars, so I’m not expecting an easy race.

“There’s also plenty of question marks over the tyre degradation on the new tarmac – so lots of unknowns for us but plenty of excitement for the fans.” 

George Russell and Charles Leclerc make up the second row, ahead of Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton.

Alex Albon and Nico Hulkenberg complete the top ten behind the Red Bull duo.

Norris led the way over Piastri after the first runs in Q3, with only 0.035s separating the pair. The British driver improved on his final run with a 1m19.327s, which turned out to be the pole-setting time. Piastri, meanwhile, did not better his earlier effort of 1m19.436s but retained second.

Verstappen was eighth after his first run and only improved slightly on his final effort to jump Perez to take seventh. Perez dropped a wheel off at Lesmo 2 on his last lap and did not improve.

Russell climbed to third with his last lap while Leclerc shuffled Sainz back to fifth, ahead of Hamilton.

Verstappen finished the session over half a second behind the lead six, 0.04s to the good of his teammate.

Fernando Alonso, Daniel Ricciardo, Kevin Magnussen, Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon were the drivers eliminated in Q2 and line up in that order, respectively.

Yuki Tsunoda failed to progress from Q1, as did Lance Stroll, who starts from 17th.

Franco Colapinto, who survived a big snap at Lesmo 2 after running wide, finished his first-ever qualifying session in 18th, ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu, who completed the field.

Piastri was investigated for an unsafe release in Q1, with his McLaren team feeding him into the pit lane into the path of Verstappen, who was forced to brake and swerve to avoid contact.

However, the penalty for such an infringement in qualifying is a team fine, not a grid penalty.

The Italian Grand Prix begins at 1.00 am NZST on Monday and will be shown live on Sky Sport.

Italian Grand Prix Provisional Starting Grid

Header Image: McLaren