#F1 #Qualifying: @PierreGASLY10 beats @GeorgeRussell63 to shock #ItalianGP pole.
Pierre Gasly, #10, BWT Alpine F1 Team-Mercedes, A526, celebrates in Parc Ferme after taking his maiden pole position, Qualifying, Formula 1 Pirelli Gran Premio D'Italia 2026, Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza, Italy. Image credit to Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images. Gasly Italian GP Pole, Pierre Gasly Maiden Pole, 2026 Italian GP Qualifying, F1 Italian GP Qualifying, 2026 Formula 1 Italian GP Qualifying Results.
Gasly Italian GP Pole – Pierre Gasly who had his third-placed-finish at the Monaco GP taken away from him, claimed a shock maiden pole position beating George Russell in qualifying by 0.060 seconds at the Italian GP as McLaren’s Oscar Piastri completed the top three. The Australian is currently under investigation by the race stewards for impeding Red Bull’s Liam Lawson on his flying lap in Q2.
Gasly was the first driver for the Enstone-based squad to take pole since Fernando Alonso under the outfit’s Renault guise in 2009 at the Hungarian GP.
The Frenchman broke Alpine’s 17-year pole drought.
In Q3, the initial flyers saw championship leader Antonelli lead the pack out and to give a slipstream to team-mate Russell.
Russell set the benchmark of a 1:21.929 on provisional pole with the best sector one time as Norris slotted into second on a 1:22.256, whilst Piastri pushed into second on a 1:21.966.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly ended up third posting a 1:22.001 with Charles Leclerc ended up fourth and 0.075 off Russell’s provisional pole time.
Verstappen jumped in-front of Norris to take sixth with three personal bests setting a 1:22.070 as Hamilton ended up eighth behind Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad with a lap of a 1:22.724.
Antonelli ran out of sync and with three personal bests ended up fifth posting a 1:22.093 to end up 0.164 seconds off his Mercedes team-mate Russell.
The final hot-laps saw Piastri lead the pack out and the Australian suffered a lock-up into the Variante Del Rettifilo and had to abort his tour.
Reigning World Champion Norris could not improve and remained in seventh; Verstappen also could not improve and stayed in fifth.
Russell improved his lap-time on top with a purple middle sector to set a 1:21.846, which was beaten by Alpine’s Gasly with three personal bests to set a 1:21.786 to grab pole by a slim 0.060 seconds.
Leclerc with three personal bests qualified in-front of team-mate Hamilton with the Scuderia fourth and fifth on the grid respectively at their home Grand Prix tomorrow.
Verstappen ended up sixth with his 1:22.070 effort and in-front of championship leader Antonelli who starts at the back of the grid due to his 30-grid-placed-penalty for power-unit component changes.
Alpine’s Franco Colapinto was eighth as reigning World Champion Norris and Lindblad completed the top ten.
In the middle segment, which was topped by Antonelli, Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto just missed out on a Q3 appearance by a very narrow 0.001 of a second and ended up 11th.
Haas’s Oliver Bearman was 12th and in-front of the other Audi R26 entry of Nico Hulkenberg who took 13th.
Liam Lawson was 14th with the Kiwi being impeded by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri on his final hot-lap and the latter is currently under investigation by the stewards for impacting the Red Bull driver at the exit of the Variante Del Rettifilo Chicane.
Williams’ Carlos Sainz and Haas’s Esteban Ocon were the slowest of the Q2 eliminatees in 15th and 16th respectively.
In the opening qualifying stage, which was topped by Gasly, Racing Bulls’ Yuki Tsunoda ended up 17th and ahead of Williams’ Alexander Albon who took 18th and the two Cadillac’s of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez who were 19th and 20th respectively.
The Aston Martin pairing of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll brought up the rear.
Albon starts at the back of the grid alongside Championship leader Antonelli due to power unit changes.
Albon is hit with a 20-grid-placed penalty for taking on a fifth Internal Combustion Engine and fourth Control Electronics Unit leading to a pair of 10-placed penalties.
Antonelli has a 30-grid-placed penalty who takes on a fifth Internal Combustion Engine, fourth Control Electronics Unit and fourth Energy Store.
Lawson also has a 40-placed penalty for a new Internal Combustion Engine, Turbocharger, Exhaust and Control Electronics Unit.
You can see the full Formula 1 Pirelli Gran Premio D’Italia 2026 Qualifying Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2026/races/1293/italy/qualifying
2026 Italian GP Qualifying – The Top Three
2026 Italian GP Pole Position – Pierre Gasly, #10, BWT Alpine F1 Team-Mercedes, A526 – 1:21.786:
“It was amazing. It was an incredible Quali. From the first lap in Q1 I felt incredible in the car. It felt like a very good lap. It has been nine years, chipping away and trying to get pole. Won my first race in Monza, and now my first pole.”
2nd Place – George Russell, #63, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team, F1 W17 – 1:21.846:
“Massive congrats to Pierre. Of course I was disappointed to not get the pole, it was a bit messy with Verstappen opening the lap, I was a bit close. But happy to see [Alpine] get a good result.”
3rd Place – Oscar Piastri, #81, McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team-Mercedes, MCL40 – 1:21.966:
“The first lap felt good. I tried to see if anyone would go first out the pit lane and no one did. I misjudged the braking and just locked up, but still nice to get a good result, it has been a while.”
#F1 #Italian GP #FP3: @GeorgeRussell63 quickest ahead of @LewisHamilton, @Max33Verstappen.
#F1 #ItalianGP #FP2: @GeorgeRussell63 quickest ahead of @CharlesLeclerc, #Antonelli.
@CharlesLeclerc heads @ScuderiaFerrariHP 1-2 in #ItalianGP FP1. #F1
#F1 @PirelliF1 #ItalianGP 2026 Preview.
