Italian GP: Lando Norris grabs pole position with Max Verstappen only P7 in qualifying

Lando Norris will start the Italian Grand Prix from pole position as McLaren locked out the front row of the grid with his title rival Max Verstappen only P7.

On a weekend when Red Bull struggled for pace, the reigning World Champions weren’t able to pull it back as they have done in yesteryear in qualifying which left the door wide open for McLaren, and more notably, for Norris.

Franco Colapinto eliminated at first qualifying hurdle

On a weekend of notable track evolution after the circuit was resurfaced, the drivers bided their time before the Ferrari team-mates broke the silence to the delight of the Tifosi. A 1:20 flat for Charles Leclerc for the early P1 but for Carlos Sainz “a moment” at the gravel at the second Lesmo cost him two seconds and he backed off.

He wasn’t the only one struggling to keep it on the track as Oscar Piastri locked up into the first chicane and cut the corner. His team-mate Lando Norris went P1 with a 1:19.9, Sainz up to third for Ferrari. Piastri was also noted for an unsafe release, a seemingly slam dunk as Max Verstappen was forced to brake hard to avoid a collision.

Heading into the final five minutes, Williams rookie Franco Colapinto was in the drop zone in 16th place but he was ahead of Sergio Perez, who was P19 and in serious trouble. Perez improved to ninth but for Colapinto running wide and putting wheels on the gravel at the second Lesmo cost him. “Yeah, sorry for that…” said the Argentinian.

There was drama also for Kevin Magnussen as he went wide at Ascari and continued to drive his Haas along the outside of Parabolica. That brought out the yellow flags that may have hampered some drivers.

The drivers eliminated were Yuki Tsunoda, Lance Stroll, Colapinto, Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu.

F1 2024 team-mate head-to-head stats

👉 F1 2024: Head-to-head qualifying record between team-mates

👉 F1 2024: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

Fernando Alonso misses out by 0.01s

Q2 got off to a delayed start as the marshals needed to clear the gravel kicked up in the previous session.

Once again it was Ferrari that was the first team to set times with Leclerc ahead of Sainz but both on used tyres. Verstappen, running new softs, went top before he was pipped by Piastri and then Norris. The championship hopeful lowered the benchmark to a 1:19.727.

In a closely-contested session, Lewis Hamilton hit the front while the Ferraris, on new tyres, both set purple sector times only for Sainz to come up short in third place while Leclerc, complaining that the car wasn’t turning, was P7 but six-tenths clear of the drop zone that included Fernando Alonso and Daniel Ricciardo.

Alonso failed to make it out of Q2, losing out by 0.01s. He was eliminated along with Ricciardo, Magnussen, Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon.

Lando Norris secures pole position for the Italian GP

Ferrari earned Verstappen’s ire as Q3 got underway at Monza with Sainz released into his path. Not quite the Piastri incident of earlier but one that the stewards noted.

In a potential eight-driver fight for pole position, Piastri laid down the benchmark but his time was pipped by Norris by 0.035 with George Russell into third and Hamilton P4.

As for Verstappen, he didn’t have a great lap and was only P8 after his first run and almost seven-tenths off the pace. “I have no **** grid at all, shocking,” he said. That even put him behind Perez by 0.01s.

Red Bull left the pits for the second run of the session with Perez ahead of Verstappen, the team potentially banking on the tow helping the reigning World Champion. But again it wasn’t a great lap for Verstappen as he moved up one solitary place to P7.

Meanwhile, his title rival Norris upped his pace to a 1:19.327 to grab pole position by 0.109s ahead of his team-mate in a McLaren front row lock-out. Russell snatched third from Leclerc with Sainz P5 ahead of Hamilton, Verstappen and Perez. Alex Albon and Nico Hulkenberg completed the top ten.

Times

1 Lando NORRIS 1:19.327
2 Oscar PIASTRI +0.109
3 George RUSSELL +0.113
4 Charles LECLERC +0.134
5 Carlos SAINZ +0.140
6 Lewis HAMILTON+0.186
7 Max VERSTAPPEN +0.695
8 Sergio PEREZ +0.735
9 Alexander ALBON +0.972
10 Nico HULKENBERG +1.012
11 Fernando ALONSO 1:20.421
12 Daniel RICCIARDO 1:20.479
13 Kevin MAGNUSSEN 1:20.698
14 Pierre GASLY 1:20.738
15 Esteban OCON 1:20.766
16 Yuki TSUNODA 1:20.945
17 Lance STROLL 1:21.013
18 Franco COLAPINTO1:21.061
19 Valtteri BOTTAS1:21.101
20 Guanyu ZHOU 1:21.445

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