Alpine shocked its prestigious rivals with a pole position for the ages at Monza - The Enstone team taking their first pole position in over 17 years. They were reportedly odds of 1,000-1 with the bookies to claim P1 before Qualifying started, but exceptional teamwork when it came to making the most of the slip stream effect, delivered a surprise almost as great as when Gasly himself took victory here at Monza driving for AlphaTauri in 2020. It is hard to believe that prior to the Qualifying session, the weekend was progressing entirely as expected as the Formula 1 circus rolled into the home of its most famous team, Ferrari, at Autodromo Nazionale Monza.
They say everyone is a Ferrari fan and that certainly seems to be the case around the grandstands in northern Italy. Even with an Italian leading the title race for the first time since Michele Alboreto drove for the Scuderia in 1985, the fact that Kimi Antonelli drives for the Silver Arrows means that his support is more limited than you would expect for a championship leader at his home grand prix. Leclerc and Hamilton remain the clear fans' favourites.
The Italians were not short of things to be cheerful about following Free Practice 1 on Friday, with the Ferrari quick straight out of the box, as it usually is on race weekends. Leclerc set the pace with a 1:23:008 and Hamilton was 2nd quickest, just 0.173s behind. Then came the Mercedes of Russell and in 5th place was Liam Lawson, making another appearance in the senior Red Bull team following Isack Hadjar's continuing recovery from his boxing injury. Rumours are that he will be fit to return for the race next weekend in Madrid, but Red Bull will feel there is no need to rush him back with Lawson doing a solid job in his absence.
Antonelli will take a new power unit this weekend and to therefore start from the back of the grid on Sunday. The thinking at Mercedes being, that with overtaking much easier here than at the previous race at Zandvoort, the loss of points in his title charge will not be as extreme. He would still hope to make 6th or better even with a dry, clean race unaffected by safety cars. A side effect of this decision was the expectation that Antonelli would give a slip stream or a tow in Q3 to assist his team mate with his own mission to take pole position. An unusual way to help your main title contender for sure. However, Antonelli knows that keeping his entire Mercedes team onside for the rest of the season is far more important than losing one or two grid positions to Russell in one race of the 24 this season.
In free practice 2, George Russell rose to the top of the timing screens as the Mercedes found its feet, posting a timing of 1:22:559 which was 0.120s faster than the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. The unexpected result of the session was Ollie Bearman taking 8th place. The Haas team have slowly slid down the field since the start of the season in Australia, unable to match the development speed of any other team in the paddock. However, here they have benefitted as a customer of Ferrari, as the Scuderia always aim to bring an update to Monza to put on a good show for their fanatical Tifosi. This benefit was not available to both Haas cars though and Esteban Ocon was an entire second slower than his younger teammate.
Russell stayed fastest in free practice 3 with a 1:22:219 which he managed with only completing 13 laps which was the fewest of any driver in the session. He was 0.226s faster than Lewis Hamilton in second place and 0.350s faster than Max Verstappen in third. The Red Bull team built well into the weekend and look to be capable of challenging for the podium on Sunday as this progress continues. The interesting team in this session was the Alpines in 9th and 10th just 0.679s off the leading time as they nailed their slipstreaming. Here, more than anywhere else on the calendar, there is a real opportunity to punch above your weight in qualifying if you can maximise your teamwork out on track.
When it came to leaving practice behind and getting down to business in Qualifying, all the supposition and guess work was to be put in the rear-view mirror. As expected, the Cadillacs and the Aston Martins dropped out in Q1. The unfortunate Alex Albon and Yuki Tsounoda were the two to join them. Albon was effectively sacrificed by his Williams team as he gave a slip stream to Carlos Sainz but it was interesting to note that the he top ten were covered by 0.3s. It was becoming more than evident that being on top of the slip stream effect was going to have a huge impact on the final outcome of qualifying.
Q2 was far more frenetic and chaotic as the drivers fought for space on track, to find the perfect gap to get a tow. Unfortunately for Liam Lawson and Oscar Piasti, they tripped over each other at the first chicane and it is seemingly inevitable that the Australian will end up with a grid penalty for the race on Sunday for blocking. There was almost utter catastrophe for Ferrari as Leclerc and Hamilton got through by the skin of their teeth in 9th and 10th. Hamilton was a mere 0.001s faster than Bortoleto. The question for all concerned was "where has the pace gone for the home team?". The sinking feeling was all too familiar for Ferrari. A complete mood change from Free Practice 1.
Bizarrely in Q3, given how important the slip stream had proven to be all the way through qualifying, Hamilton chose to set his first lap in total isolation on the track, with no tow from anyone. He ended up eight tenths off the provisional pole time set by George Russell and down in 8th place. It was here that Gasly really stepped up his impressive showing and was displayed real pace to claim P3. It was clear it was no fluke after the second runs were competed. He managed to go even better on his next attempt and took an emotional pole position with a lap of 1:21.786 which was 0.060s faster than the Mercedes of Russell, at the venue of the only win of his career so far. He is the first French driver on pole at Monza since Jean Alesi in 1997 and obviously knows what it takes to win around this circuit, so will have high hopes for the race itself on Sunday. It is a delightfully surprising spanner that has been thrown into the expectations for the Italian Grand Prix. What was looking to turn into a procession for Russell now sees a mixed-up grid with possibilities galore. The Ferrari's managed to get it together and claim 4th and 5th on the grid, which should be improved by one position for both drivers if Piastri does indeed suffer a penalty for blocking Lawson. But the headlines here all belong to Pierre Gasly and deservedly so.
