Pierre Gasly wins first pole position of career in the GP of Italy

Gasly completed his best return to the Monza circuit in 1,21,786 minutes, beating the British George Russell (Mercedes) for 0.060 seconds and the Australian Oscar Piastri (McLaren) for 0.180.

The French pilot, who achieved in this same circuit the first and only career victory, in 2020, ranked third after the first attempts of Q3, but improved in the final round and surprised the main candidates for ‘pole’.

“ It was an incredible qualification. Since the first Q1 lap, I've felt pretty good in the car. I'm very happy. They were nine years looking for the opportunity to win a ‘pole position’,” Gasly said at the end of the session.

The French also considered “special” to achieve in Monza the first ‘pole’ of the career, after it was also in this circuit that won its only triumph in Formula 1.

Russell, who had been the fastest in third-party free training, came to lead Q3, with the time of 1,21,929 minutes, but ended up over Gasly, although he also improved in the last attempt.

Piastri finished in third position in a session where McLaren's pilot experienced brake difficulties and failed the trajectory in the first variant during the last quick lap.

The Ferraris of Monegasque Charles Leclerc and the British Lewis Hamilton were in fourth and fifth positions, respectively, before the fans of the Italian team.

The Dutch Max Verstappen (Red Bull), who complained of the lack of competitiveness of the single place, was sixth, followed by the Italian Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), who will pay a penalty on the grid due to the use of new components of the driving unit.

Argentinian Franco Colapinto confirmed Alpine's good performance in reaching the eighth half ahead of the British Lando Norris (McLaren) and Swedish Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls).

The Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) failed access to Q3 for only one thousandth of a second face to Hamilton, while the Spanish Carlos Sainz (Williams) and Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) finished in 15th and 21st places, respectively.

The Italian Grand Prix is held on Sunday, with departure scheduled for 15:00 locals (14:00 in Lisbon).