Gasly takes Italian Grand Prix pole as Checo Pérez is eliminated in Q1

Pierre Gasly produced the surprise of qualifying at Monza, taking pole for Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix and securing the first top starting position of his Formula One career.

The 30-year-old Alpine driver completed the decisive Q3 session in 1 minute, 21.786 seconds on soft tires. That put him 60 thousandths of a second ahead of George Russell, who will start second for Mercedes, and 180 thousandths ahead of Oscar Piastri of McLaren.

Gasly’s Alpine teammate Franco Colapinto recorded the eighth-fastest time, but will start seventh. Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who qualified seventh and leads the championship, received a grid penalty for exceeding the permitted limit on power-unit changes and will start from the back.

Charles Leclerc will start fourth for Ferrari, alongside Piastri, while Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton starts from the third row with Max Verstappen of Red Bull. Lando Norris, the reigning world champion, moves up one place and starts alongside Colapinto from the fourth row.

Arvid Lindblad of RB and Gabriel Bortoleto of Audi occupy the fifth row. Carlos Sainz will start 14th for Williams, while two-time world champion Fernando Alonso starts 20th for Aston Martin. Pérez, driving for Cadillac, will begin from 19th in a race set for 53 laps and 306.7 kilometers.