Gasly beats Russell to stunning pole at Monza

Pierre Gasly produced one of Formula 1's biggest surprises of the season by taking pole position for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

The Alpine driver edged Mercedes' George Russell by 0.060 seconds. Oscar Piastri put McLaren third, while Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton qualified fourth and fifth despite the team's upgraded engine. Max Verstappen took sixth, and Lando Norris dropped to ninth after a difficult session.

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It was amazing. Thank you to everyone. It was an incredible qualifying.

Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, the championship leader, qualified seventh but will start from the back because of a grid penalty for taking a new engine. That had made Russell a strong favourite to take pole and gave him a major chance to reduce his deficit to his team-mate, but Gasly overturned those expectations.

Gasly's result came a day after the FIA Court of Appeal reinstated a penalty that stripped him of third place at the Monaco Grand Prix. It also marked the first French pole at a grand prix since Jean Alesi took one for Benetton at Monza in 1997. Gasly had qualified only 11th at the previous race in the Netherlands, after Alpine introduced a major upgrade to its car.

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It has been nine years trying to chase a pole position and to take my first win here and then my first pole here is amazing.

"It was amazing. Thank you to everyone. It was an incredible qualifying," Gasly said. "It has been nine years trying to chase a pole position and to take my first win here and then my first pole here is amazing."

Russell congratulated Gasly but said he was disappointed. Piastri's third place offered a boost after several difficult races, although his team-mate Norris suffered when Piastri locked up at the first chicane during the final runs. Norris lost four-tenths of a second in the first sector, could not recover and fell from seventh to ninth.

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Firstly, massive congrats to Pierre because that's an incredible performance.