On Saturday in the 2026 F1 Italian GP Qualifying, Charles Leclerc placed fourth ahead of his Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton. This came after a shock performance by Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, who managed to snatch his first pole.
Ferrari hoped to have a very special weekend with their engine upgrade as part of their ADUO allowance. They were pretty optimistic for the 2026 Italian GP Qualifying with a Ferrari one-two in FP1. However, Leclerc only placed P4 in the end as Mercedes-powered cars showed their speed on Saturday afternoon.
Messy 2026 Italian GP Qualifying for Ferrari
Leclerc admits the team had problems with their battery during Q2 that ultimately created a messy session for the team. The Monegasque was ninth while Hamilton squeezed through by 0.001s, just avoiding elimination.
The Italian driver says they fixed their issues in time for Q3 but the session was far from perfect. He continues that having a front row finish is in the last hundredths of seconds and requires perfection as a team.
Leclerc explains there’s lots of work to be done to understand the problem faced in the middle segment of qualifying.
“We’ve had way too many problems. Unfortunately, Q2 we had a big problem with the battery which then we understood, we kind of fixed for Q3, but just a messy session
“When you want to go and get the last hundredths, we need to be perfect as a team and we haven’t been, so we need look at what’s going on.”
Stolen strategy for success
Charles Leclerc explained he talked with his good friend Gasly prior to the F1 Italian GP Qualifying about some driving tips and tricks. He claims the Frenchman put his advice to use on Turn 6 and 7 to claim pole. Humbly, the Ferrari driver says he is happy for Gasly.
He highlights that a perfect performance makes a huge difference at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza. The Monégasque naturally stated that Alpine doesn’t necessarily have the best car but, on this track, orchestrating a perfect performance makes more of a difference.
“I spoke to Pierre yesterday and he was asking me some things for Turns 6-7. I was like, okay, with Pierre I can share things – and today he beat all of us for pole
“I’m very happy for Pierre. I think it’s a big, big surprise for everybody, but it shows that with these cars, especially on tracks like this, if you do everything perfect then it can make a massive difference.
“I don’t think they’ve got the best car, but I think they have done the best job today and, on a track like this, it makes a much bigger difference to other tracks.”
