Pierre Gasly after his sensational pole: “What is it with Monza and me?”

Pierre Gasly is the man of the moment at Monza: pole position for the Frenchman at the historic Italian Grand Prix in the ‘Temple of Speed’. The 30-year-old has clinched his first pole position in the premier class (he finished second in Qatar in 2021), becoming the 109th driver in Formula 1 history to do so.

Gasly and Monza are a perfect match: it was here in 2020 that Pierre also sensationally won his only Grand Prix to date with AlphaTauri.

For Alpine, this is their first Formula 1 pole position, on their 127th attempt.

Unsurprisingly, Pierre Gasly is over the moon. Speaking about his qualifying session, he said: “It’s just brilliant! What a qualifying session! It went brilliantly for me right from the first lap; with every subsequent attempt, I was able to fine-tune the set-up.”

“I could tell it was a good lap, but pole? To be honest, I didn’t expect that. I’ve been waiting nine years for this moment. I don’t know what it is about Monza and me.”

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“Now I’m going to get a bit of sleep at my home in Milan and then try to put up as strong a fight as possible in the race.”

How the final practice session at Monza went

Ideal conditions for sun-seekers at Monza: hot late-summer weather, 34 degrees, with the historic circuit reaching 57 degrees.

As a reminder: an engine penalty for championship leader Kimi Antonelli, who was only expected to play a role here as a slipstream provider for George Russell. The Italian’s own lap times were a close call: somewhat pointless, as he’ll be relegated to the back of the field anyway.

In Q1, world champion Lando Norris initially complained about his brakes; he drove straight on at the first corner, whilst at the front Verstappen took the lead, ahead of Hamilton, Piastri, Leclerc and Norris.

Mercedes struck back: Antonelli was already practising slipstreaming with Russell (on medium-hard tyres), with Kimi in P2 and Russell in P3.

But the top teams hadn’t shown their full hand yet, as suddenly Alpine driver Pierre Gasly was in P1 – which certainly doesn’t reflect the usual Monza pecking order.

Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso didn’t even take to the track at the end of Q1: a problem with his car meant the Spaniard had to pull out.

An early end to the session for: Tsunoda (17th), Albon, Bottas, Pérez, Alonso and Stroll.

An embarrassing record for Lance Stroll in the second Aston Martin: eliminated in Q1 for the 100th time.

Top ten: Gasly, Verstappen, Norris, Colapinto, Lindblad, Antonelli, Russell, Hamilton, Leclerc and Bearman. The Audis in P12 (Bortoleto) and P14 (Hülkenberg)

In the second qualifying segment, Verstappen set the initial benchmark, going slightly faster than in Q1. Max, however, was not at all happy with the car: “There’s just something wrong with the rear axle; it’s undriveable in turns 2, 4 and 5.” Grand Prix winner Ralf Schumacher suspected a broken anti-roll bar.

Championship leader Kimi Antonelli promptly moved to the top, but was immediately beaten by Russell, then Gasly, then Norris, then Piastri – it all happened in quick succession. The Ferrari duo were on used tyres at this stage. Verstappen had dropped to P10!

Max put that right: up to P5, just 17 hundredths behind leader Piastri. The top nine within half a second of each other.

Leclerc then, to the horror of the Tifosi, was down to P9, Hamilton on P10 – mamma mia!

Eliminated in Q2: Bortoleto, Bearman, Hülkenberg, Lawson, Sainz and Ocon.

Verstappen’s team-mate Lawson was absolutely livid: He was forced to brake hard by Piastri at the first corner (the FIA is investigating on Saturday evening) and snapped at his race engineer, saying that he (the engineer) had sent him onto the track at the wrong moment. Even Verstappen’s slipstream didn’t help.

The top ten, and thus through to Q3: Antonelli, Piastri, Norris, Gasly, Russell, Verstappen, Lindblad, Colapinto, Leclerc and Hamilton.

Antonelli held Russell up down the start-finish straight, after which the Brit was on his own. Russell made the best of it – setting the fastest time. Piastri, Gasly, Leclerc, Verstappen and Norris couldn’t keep up. Hamilton was only in 8th place.

Russell wasn’t happy with the car, though: “It’s not as good as in the third practice session; the front axle tends to lock up, and the car is unstable at top speed.” Kimi Antonelli moved up (without any help) to P6, with a messy lap that included a spin.

Piastri braked too late in the first corner, ruining any chance of drafting behind Norris. Lando was promptly slow in the first sector.

Then Hamilton moved up to P5, but Pierre Gasly set a sensational fastest time. Who would have thought it?