Sainz denies Verstappen by one-hundredth to put Ferrari on pole at home

Carlos Sainz Jnr sent the Tifosi into rapture at Monza by pipping Max Verstappen to pole position for the Italian Grand Prix.

The Ferrari driver snatched pole by 0.013s from the championship leader with his final lap in a dramatic conclusion to qualifying. His team mate Charles Leclerc was less than a tenth of a second slower but will line up third, while George Russell took fourth on the grid for Mercedes ahead of Sergio Perez.

Q1

Under the Alternative Tyre Allocation format in effect for the Italian Grand Prix weekend, all 20 drivers participating in Q1 were restricted to hard compound tyres only for the first phase of qualifying. With 18 minutes for the opening session, there was no great rush out onto the circuit as qualifying began.

The two AlphaTauris of Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson were the first to take the the track, both on used hard tyres. Their first timed laps were easily beaten by Kevin Magnussen on new hards, before Max Verstappen moved to the top at the end of his first flying lap. However, the championship leader’s time was immediately deleted after he was deemed to have run wide at the exit of the second Lesmo.

Alexander Albon put his Williams to the top with his first lap of a 1’22.123, but with neither Ferrari, Aston Martin nor Verstappen having set a time. Carlos Sainz Jnr and Charles Leclerc were only quick enough for fourth and ninth, respectively, with their first push laps. Track limits continued to catch some drivers out: Fernando Alonso also had his time deleted for running wide at Lesmo 2.

Verstappen’s second attempt at a flying lap was comfortably quick enough for the fastest in the session, and Sergio Perez moved up to second in the other Red Bull. Alonso put himself third with his first legitimate lap time. Leclerc soon replaced him in third, slotting between the Red Bulls and the Aston Martin.

Some of those nearer the drop zone fitted second sets of hard tyres for the final minutes, including Lewis Hamilton, who improved on his position but only to 10th. Surprisingly, Oscar Piastri was sat in the drop zone in 17th as he headed out for his final run, while his McLaren team mate Lando Norris was only 13th ahead of him. Piastri moved into safety in 12th, but had his time deleted for track limits at the second Lesmo, putting him under intense pressure for his final flying laps.

In the final minute, Piastri was joined in the bottom five by Valtteri Bottas, Lance Stroll, and the two Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon. Bottas moved safe into 12th, with Piastri doing the same. That dropped Zhou Guanyu into elimination in 16th, along with the two Alpine drivers behind him. Magnussen failed to follow his team mate into Q2 in 19th, with Stroll the last driver knocked out, slowest of all.

Before the second phase of qualifying began, race control announced that both Ferrari drivers, Leclerc and Sainz, would be investigated after the end of qualifying for potentially exceeding the maximum lap time that had been extended to apply to out laps for today’s session.

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Q1 result

Position	Number	Driver	Team	Model	Time	Gap	Laps
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’21.573		9
2	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1’21.661	0.088	9
3	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	SF-23	1’21.788	0.215	9
4	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	AT04	1’21.852	0.279	9
5	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’21.911	0.338	9
6	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1’21.930	0.357	9
7	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	SF-23	1’21.965	0.392	9
8	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	W14	1’21.977	0.404	9
9	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’21.995	0.422	9
10	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1’22.043	0.470	8
11	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’22.106	0.533	10
12	40	Liam Lawson	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	AT04	1’22.112	0.539	9
13	63	George Russell	Mercedes	W14	1’22.148	0.575	9
14	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C43	1’22.249	0.676	8
15	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	VF-23	1’22.343	0.770	10
16	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C43	1’22.390	0.817	8
17	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	A523	1’22.545	0.972	7
18	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	A523	1’22.548	0.975	8
19	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	VF-23	1’22.592	1.019	8
20	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1’22.860	1.287	9

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Q2

For the second phase of qualifying, the remaining 15 drivers were mandated to run only on the medium compound tyres. Verstappen set the early pace with a 1’21.035, but Perez was almost four tenths slower than his team mate after his first push lap.

Albon beat Perez by a tenth to go second. Ferrari’s first timed laps were also strong, with Sainz taking the top spot with his first effort, four-hundredths of a second quicker than Verstappen as Leclerc slotted into third behind them.

Mercedes looked like they were at genuine risk of failing to progress into Q3, so would have been pleased to see George Russell’s first lap put him sixth. However, team principal Toto Wolff’s brow was furrowed when Hamilton crossed the line at the end of his first push lap to only go 12th, a tenth away from the safety of the top ten. Hamilton complained Perez had got in his way before the lap began, the Red Bull driver passing the Mercedes on his way to the pits.

As teams prepared for their final runs of the second session, Hamilton was sitting in the bottom five along with Hulkenberg’s Haas ahead and Lawson, Logan Sargeant and Bottas behind him. All 15 cars chose to head out together in the final three minutes, all on a fresh set of tyres.

Everyone successfully reached the timing line before the chequered flag to earn a final flying lap, though it was a close call as the last cars left the pits less than two mintues before the chequered flag dropped. Hamilton improved his time, as did Leclerc, who went fastest of all until Verstappen pipped him by four-hundredths of a second.

Norris flirted with disaster. He was passed by Verstappen and Bottas before starting his final lap, failed to improve, and avoided falling into the drop zone by just 0.013s.

Despite improving on their final laps, both Tsunoda and Lawson were knocked out together in 11th and 12th, while Hulkenberg was eliminated in 13th after he did not improve on his last effort. Bottas went faster on his last lap but it was only good enough for 14th, while Sargeant was knocked out slowest after running wide at Alboreto (formerly Parabolica) on his crucial final lap.

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Q2 result

Position	Number	Driver	Team	Model	Time	Gap	Laps
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’20.937		15
2	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	SF-23	1’20.977	0.040	15
3	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	SF-23	1’20.991	0.054	14
4	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’21.240	0.303	15
5	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1’21.272	0.335	15
6	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	W14	1’21.369	0.432	15
7	63	George Russell	Mercedes	W14	1’21.382	0.445	15
8	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’21.527	0.590	18
9	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1’21.543	0.606	13
10	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’21.581	0.644	17
11	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	AT04	1’21.594	0.657	15
12	40	Liam Lawson	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	AT04	1’21.758	0.821	15
13	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	VF-23	1’21.776	0.839	16
14	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C43	1’21.940	1.003	14
15	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1’21.944	1.007	15

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Q3

For the all-important third and final phase of qualifying, the top 10 drivers could only use the softest tyres available. The two Red Bulls headed out on track first, with Verstappen ahead of team mate Perez, as the rest of the field following behind them.

Verstappen set the benchmark with a 1’20.631, dipping a wheel into the gravel at the Roggia. Perez was almost three-tenths slower than his team mate after he crossed the line for the first time. But the Tifosi in the grandstands burst into a roar when first Leclerc, then Sainz beat Verstappen with Sainz setting the provisional pole time with a 1’20.532, just three-hundredths ahead of team mate Leclerc.

The two Red Bulls were split, first by Albon, then by Russell’s Mercedes too – demoting Perez to sixth place, ahead of the two McLarens of Norris and Piastri. The field returned to the garage for the final time to prepare for their last runs. Leclerc venturing out first, and therefore lacked the benefit of a tow, followed by Verstappen and Sainz.

Leclerc was a tenth of a second quicker than Verstappen in the first sector, but the Red Bull gained half of that back in the second second. Leclerc completed his lap to jump into provisional pole, but he was left heartbroken when Verstappen pipped him by half a tenth.

All Ferrari’s hopes were on Sainz’s shoulders and he crossed the line to jump ahead of Verstappen by just 0.013s and snatch pole position to the delight of himself, his team and the tens of thousands in the grandstands. Adding to their joy, any lingering doubt over Sainz’s pole position was lifted when the stewards swiftly announced that there would be no further action against both Ferrari drivers for potentially exceeding the maximum lap time in Q1.

Sainz was therefore confirmed on pole ahead of Verstappen with Leclerc behind the pair in third. Russell jumped ahead of Perez at the chequered flag into fifth place, with Albon taking sixth on the grid for Williams. The McLarens of Piastri and Norris were split by Hamilton, with Alonso rounding out the top ten.

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Q3 result

Position	Number	Driver	Team	Model	Time	Gap	Laps
1	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	SF-23	1’20.294		20
2	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’20.307	0.013	21
3	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	SF-23	1’20.361	0.067	21
4	63	George Russell	Mercedes	W14	1’20.671	0.377	21
5	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’20.688	0.394	21
6	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1’20.760	0.466	21
7	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’20.785	0.491	24
8	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	W14	1’20.820	0.526	21
9	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’20.979	0.685	23
10	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1’21.417	1.123	19

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