Alpine delivers a shock at Monza with Gasly’s first Formula One pole

Pierre Gasly had never taken pole in nine years of Formula One. At Monza, he suddenly found himself ahead of the sport’s biggest names, while Alpine teammate Franco Colapinto qualified seventh.

Gasly beat Mercedes driver George Russell by just 68 thousandths of a second. Even Alpine had not expected the result. The team’s mechanics celebrated their first pole under the Alpine name as the cars returned to parc fermé.

Colapinto finished the final qualifying session 434 thousandths behind Gasly. He had nearly been eliminated in Q2, but improved his time and reached Q3. He will start seventh because Kimi Antonelli, who set the seventh-fastest time, must start from the back after changing his engine.

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Let’s go, kid.

The result put both Alpines ahead of Racing Bulls. Arvid Lindblad was the fastest Racing Bulls driver, but qualified 10th and will start ninth. That gives Alpine an opportunity to erase the three-point gap separating the teams in the constructors’ standings and climb from sixth to fifth, following the FIA’s controversial decision to strip Gasly of his third place at the previous Monaco Grand Prix.

Alpine’s performance stood out because the A526 had worked well on a high-downforce circuit, then proved even faster at Monza, where teams use as little wing load as possible. Colapinto reached 335 kph, while groups of Argentine fans in the grandstands waved flags and called out, “Let’s go, kid.”

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Not now, not now.