Italian GP: Verstappen upstages McLaren to claim shock Monza pole position

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has claimed pole position for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

Verstappen clocked a fastest lap of 1:18.792 to outpace McLaren driver Lando Norris by 0.077 seconds and claim his 45th career pole. Norris’s McLaren teammate and F1 2025 championship leader Oscar Piastri will line up third on the grid.

Italian Grand Prix 2025: Q1

Bright-blue skies greeted the drivers at the start of the qualifying hour at Monza.

The Mercedes pair of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli were alone in conducting their first laps of the session on the medium tyre.

Carlos Sainz had his first flyer deleted for exceeding track limits at Lesmo 2 as his former team set the pace, Charles Leclerc establishing an early 0.105s advantage over the penalised Lewis Hamilton.

Verstappen also ran wide at the exit of Lesmo 2 on his first sighter, splitting the Ferraris before the all-conquering McLaren pair came through, Norris edging out Piastri by 0.100s at that stage.

“Check the floor,” Verstappen told Red Bull after finishing his lap as Alex Albon locked up and went straight on at the first chicane, leaving Williams without a time on the board entering the final 10 minutes of Q1.

Sainz soon rectified that to vault himself up to third, 0.4s faster than Albon on the drivers’ first representative laps.

F1 2025: Head-to-head scores between team-mates

? F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates

? F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

Leclerc put himself between the McLarens with his next run before Fernando Alonso put in a lap out of nowhere to get within 0.047s of Norris.

Russell put the medium tyre to good use to better Norris’s earlier lap, with Antonelli 17th and 0.737s off his team-mate pace on the same compound.

“Balance was OK. I just had no grip,” an agitated Antonelli reported over team radio.

He returned to the circuit on softs as Russell remained in the garage for the final runs, improving to 11th.

Nineteenth-placed Esteban Ocon was frustrated to be at the head of the queue and without a tow ahead of the last runs, telling the team: “Guys! I’m alone in front. Exactly what we said we should not do.”

Leclerc was having some trouble too, telling Ferrari: “My right mirror is becoming loose.”

Isack Hadjar – half a second slower than Russell’s session-topping time – was frustrated to be knocked out of Q1 for the first time in his career after a wide moment at Lesmo 2 on his final effort.

He exited along with Lance Stroll, the underpowered Alpine pair of Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly and Racing Bulls teammate Liam Lawson, who abandoned his final lap after running into the gravel on the exit of Lesmo 1.

Sainz was noted for failing to follow the race director’s instructions.

Eliminated: Isack Hadjar (16th), Lance Stroll (17th), Franco Colapinto (18th) Pierre Gasly (19th), Liam Lawson (20th)

Italian Grand Prix 2025: Q2

The start of Q2 was delayed slightly to allow the marshals to sweep gravel from the circuit.

The Williams drivers wasted no time in taking to the track, leaving the pit lane in formation with Sainz offering a slight tow to Albon.

Albon wasted the opportunity to put a lap on the board on a clear track, dipping a wheel into the gravel at Variante Ascari and trailing Sainz by 1.181s.

Verstappen stole a tow from Piastri’s McLaren on the back straight to set the early pace in Q2, edging the now soft-shod Russell by 0.147s.

Norris was instructed to box at the end of his first flying lap after locking up and cutting the first chicane, leaving him as the only driver without a time on the board with seven minutes left on the clock.

That put Norris, who soon returned to the track on a new set of softs, out of sync with the rest.

“It will be tight for push-cool-cool-push, so aim for it on the first,” Norris was told by his race engineer on his out lap on a deserted track. “I’ll update you as to what we can do from there.”

Norris improved to seventh with the first push lap of his final run, less than 0.2s clear of Bearman in 11th.

Piastri gave his teammate and title rival a tow on his final lap, with Norris improving once more to end Q2 in fifth.

After his Q1 scare, Antonelli produced a fine lap to come within 0.105s of Verstappen with Piastri third on the Q2 timesheet.

Albon’s struggles continued as he locked up into the first chicane, leaving him 14th, with Sainz one place ahead.

The Williams pair were eliminated along with the Haas drivers and Hulkenberg’s Sauber.

Eliminated: Oliver Bearman (11th), Nico Hulkenberg (12th), Carlos Sainz (13th), Alex Albon (14th), Esteban Ocon (15th)

Italian Grand Prix 2025: Q3

That left the McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari drivers, along with Alonso and Bortoleto, in the fight for pole position.

Norris emerged from the pit lane at the head of the queue with Antonelli in between the McLaren pair.

The lack of a tow hurt Norris on the first runs, with Piastri 0.4s faster after following in Antonelli’s wheeltracks.

Leclerc momentarily went quickest of all by 0.049s before Verstappen squeezed himself into top spot, lowering the benchmark by a further 0.084s.

Impressive laps by Hamilton, Russell and Bortoleto left Norris down in seventh at the end of the first runs, ahead only of Antonelli (used tyres), Tsunoda (nursing a potential battery issue) and Alonso.

Tsunoda was positioned at the head of the queue for the final runs, followed by Leclerc, Hamilton, Piastri and Norris.

Verstappen led the second group of cars with Alonso and Bortoleto behind, with Antonelli and Russell the last cars across the line.

Russell was miffed to be put on softs for the final lap, telling Mercedes he wanted mediums.

Norris put Piastri’s tow to good use to claim provisional pole before Verstappen took it back again by 0.077s, setting a new lap record in the process.

Leclerc and Hamilton failed to improve on their final laps, with the Ferrari pair in fourth and fifth respectively.

Hamilton will start 10th after picking up a five-place grid penalty for a yellow-flag breach at the previous race in the Netherlands.

Russell, Antonelli, Bortoleto, Alonso and Tsunoda completed the Q3 top 10 and will all move up a place on Sunday’s grid.

Full results from qualifying at the Italian Grand Prix can be found on PlanetF1.com’s live timing page.

Italian Grand Prix 2025: Provisional grid

1. Max Verstappen, Red Bull 1:18.792

2. Lando Norris, McLaren +0.077

3. Oscar Piastri, McLaren +0.190

4. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari +0.215

5. Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari +0.332

6. George Russell, Mercedes +0.365

7. Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes +0.408

8. Gabriel Bortoleto, Sauber +0.598

9. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin +0.632

10. Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull +0.727

11. Oliver Bearman, Haas +0.306

12. Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber +0.358

13. Carlos Sainz, Williams +0.388

14. Alex Albon, Williams +0.443

15. Esteban Ocon, Haas +0.567

16. Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls +0.503

17. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin +0.534

18. Franco Colapinto, Alpine +0.578

19. Pierre Gasly, Alpine +0.689

20. Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls +0.865

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