F1 | Qualifying | Italian GP | Max Verstappen clinches pole in close battle with the McLarens - Motorsport

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Max Verstappen pieces together a pole-winning lap after dominating Q3. After failing to crack the top 3 in all three practice sessions, Verstappen looked pitch-perfect in Italian GP qualifying.

Q1

Most of the grid got on track when the pit lane green light lit, while both McLarens, Max Verstappen, both the Racing Bulls and Williams’ Alex Albon opted to wait in their garages.

Esteban Ocon set the first time of Q1 with a 1:21.055. Haas teammate Ollie Bearman quickly usurped him with a 1:20.799. Of the first batch of cars that came out of the garages straight away, the two Ferraris were the fastest. Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton, Nico Hulkenberg, and George Russell cracked the 1:19s on their first laps.

Verstappen, Piastri, and Norris joined the party finally, logging their first laps of the session with 11 minutes remaining in Q1. Norris and Piastri snatched up the two top places with a 1:19.611 and a 1:19.711, respectively. Verstappen’s benchmark lap was good enough for P4. Before their second runs, the top five cars were separated by 0.295 seconds.

Fernando Alonso logged an impressive lap with 8 minutes remaining, putting his Aston Martin up in second position. Russell found pace on his medium compound tyres, setting the fastest lap by 0.197 seconds to Norris. Carlos Sainz –on his very first flying lap– set a 1:19.644 to go third fastest.

Before their final flying laps of Q1, Pierre Gasly, Kimi Antonelli, Franco Colapinto, Esteban Ocon, and Liam Lawson sat in the elimination zone.

Esteban Ocon was heard on his team radio complaining that Haas put him on track behind the Alpines when it seemed as though Ocon was banking on having clear air to benefit from. Conversely, Charles Leclerc was heard concerned about a loose driver’s mirror over his team radio.

Verstappen went second fastest as the seconds ticked down, just 0.041 off of Russell in P1. Soon after, Hadjar failed to go fast enough to make it through when he set his final lap, a shock elimination from qualifying. This marked the French driver’s first Q1 exit.

Q1 elimination zone results at the Italian GP

P16 – Hadjar
P17 – Stroll
P18 – Colapinto
P19 – Gasly
P20 – Lawson

Q2

The start of Q2 was slightly delayed by gravel on the track, a common issue this weekend as drivers push the limits of the white lines.

Sainz and Albon were the first cars to set times in Q2, however, they were not indicative. Albon dropped a tyre off the track, putting his time a full 1.181 seconds behind Sainz. Verstappen, Ocon, and Bearmen were the next to set times. Verstappen logged an impressive 1:19.140. Russell and Antonelli logged their laps not long after, going P2 and P3. Yuki Tsunoda put in a 1:19.433 to go P3 before Piastri, Bortoleto, and Leclerc all went slightly faster.

After the grid’s first flying lap of Q2, the top 6 drivers were all within 0.3 seconds of Max Verstappen in P1. The tailwind in turn one continued to be an issue in this session, in fact causing two different lock ups including a mistake from Norris. Norris was then forced to stay out on the empty track and log a time after the rest of the grid returned to their garages.

Norris jumped up to only P7 with under 4 minutes remaining, putting the Brit under pressure from the rest of the grid’s final runs.

Verstappen could not improve on his 1:19.140 time on his final run. Kimi Antonelli jumped up into P2, Russell failed to improve. Charles Leclerc improved one place to P5. His Ferrari teammate Hamilton improved to P8 to potentially knock out Lando Norris with 13 seconds remaining, Norris was on a lap and improving in the first sector.

Albon could not improve, staying P14, behind Sainz in P13. Norris extracted everything from his McLaren to pull off a P5-worthy lap in a do-or-die situation, getting him into Q3. Williams expected more from their Saturday, a tough result for the team.

Q2 elimination zone results at Italian GP

P11 – Bearman
P12 – Hulkenberg
P13 – Sainz
P14 – Albon
P15 – Ocon

Q3

The top ten rolled out on track in Q3 of Italian GP qualifying fitted with soft tyres. Norris was the first to set a lap with a 1:19.433. Antonelli went P2, and teammate Russell soon usurped both Norris and Antonelli. Hamilton set a 1:19.124 to go P3, just after Leclerc went fastest with a 1:19.007. The home-grown Tifosi were soon disappointed by Verstappen snatching P1 just after Leclerc crossed the line, cracking the 1:18 mark.

After a quick respite in their garages, the field rolled out of the pits with just over three minutes remaining in Q3. Ferrari peculiarly put Charles Leclerc out into clear air, rather than using Hamilton for a slipstream. Hamilton will have a 5-place grid penalty following a yellow flag incident back at the Dutch GP.

Norris improved to go fastest, taking provisional pole. Leclerc, Hamilton, Piastri, and Russell all failed to improve on their last runs.

Max Verstappen pulled out even more pace in his final lap for a pole-winning 1:18.792 lap time.

The Norris and Piastri will be hot on Verstappens heels on Sunday, lining up P2 and P3. Behind them in P4 is Leclerc, followed by Hamilton in P5. The two Mercedes, Russell and Antonelli take P6 and P7. Rounding out the top ten in P8, P9, and P10 was Bortoleto, Alonso, and Tsunoda.