2026 F1 Italian GP qualifying summary: Pierre Gasly takes surprise pole, Ferrari P4-P5

Pierre Gasly claimed a surprise pole position for the 2026 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, producing the decisive lap when it mattered most to beat George Russell and Oscar Piastri. Ferrari had to settle for the second and third rows at its home race, with Charles Leclerc qualifying fourth and Lewis Hamilton fifth after a dramatic session in which slipstream tactics and tiny margins again played a major role at the Temple of Speed.

Pierre Gasly’s 1:21.786 put Alpine at the front of the grid, just 0.060 seconds clear of George Russell’s Mercedes. Oscar Piastri finished third for McLaren, 0.180 seconds from pole, while Charles Leclerc was only 0.218 seconds away in fourth. Lewis Hamilton followed in fifth, just seven thousandths behind his Ferrari team-mate.

Italian GP qualifying begins with Ferrari and Mercedes in the spotlight

Formula 1 returned to Monza for qualifying after three practice sessions in which Ferrari and Mercedes had both featured prominently. Ferrari had entered the decisive session with encouraging signs from the SF-26, having shown competitive pace during final practice at Monza, where Lewis Hamilton finished second.

Qualifying began at 16:00 at the Temple of Speed, with Liam Lawson becoming the first driver to set a representative time in Q1. Carlos Sainz soon moved ahead of him as the opening phase began to take shape.

Lando Norris was forced to abandon his first flying lap after running off the track. Pierre Gasly then delivered the first major surprise of the afternoon, improving to a 1:22.612 and moving unexpectedly to the top of the timesheets.

Behind the Alpine driver came Max Verstappen, Lando Norris and Franco Colapinto, followed by the two Mercedes cars. With Monza placing such a premium on track positioning and slipstreaming, the session immediately underlined why tow strategy had been expected to influence qualifying.

The six drivers eliminated at the end of Q1 were Yuki Tsunoda, Alex Albon, Valtteri Bottas, Sergio Perez, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.

Lewis Hamilton escapes Q2 elimination by one thousandth

Liam Lawson again set the opening time when Q2 began, before Max Verstappen joined the action while continuing to experience some difficulties with his car following the previous phase.

McLaren then moved to the front, with its two drivers showing strong pace, while Pierre Gasly continued to confirm that his Q1 performance had been no accident. The Alpine driver remained firmly in contention as the session developed.

Ferrari, however, faced a much more nervous conclusion to Q2. The two SF-26 cars dropped into the final positions during the closing stages, and Lewis Hamilton only secured his place in Q3 by a margin of one thousandth of a second.

That tense moment came after a weekend in which extracting maximum single-lap performance from the SF-26 had required careful work on both set-up and energy deployment. Ferrari had already shown specific strengths through Monza’s chicanes and late-lap energy deployment, but qualifying demonstrated just how little separated the leading group.

The drivers eliminated in Q2 were Gabriel Bortoleto, Oliver Bearman, Nico Hulkenberg, Liam Lawson, Carlos Sainz and Esteban Ocon.

Pierre Gasly beats George Russell to Italian GP pole

Mercedes was first onto the circuit in Q3, with George Russell taking provisional pole ahead of Oscar Piastri and Pierre Gasly. The battle remained open heading into the final runs, with every detail of track position and slipstream potentially worth crucial fractions of a second.

After the field returned to the pits, Oscar Piastri was the first driver to begin his final flying lap and effectively triggered the decisive fight for pole. The McLaren driver made an error that compromised his attempt, while Andrea Kimi Antonelli also failed to maximise his final run.

Pierre Gasly, meanwhile, executed a lap built carefully around the available slipstreams and delivered when it mattered. The Alpine driver stopped the clock at 1:21.786, enough to defeat George Russell by six hundredths of a second and secure pole position for the Italian Grand Prix.

Oscar Piastri retained third despite his mistake, while Charles Leclerc completed the second row in fourth. Lewis Hamilton qualified fifth, giving Ferrari two cars inside the top five but leaving the Scuderia without a place in the top three at its home Grand Prix.

The outcome represented a significant change from the expectations immediately before qualifying, when the main Monza qualifying battle appeared centred on Ferrari and George Russell. Instead, Pierre Gasly emerged as the driver who converted the opportunity into pole.

2026 Italian GP qualifying results

Ferrari will therefore head into its home Grand Prix with Charles Leclerc starting fourth and Lewis Hamilton fifth. Pierre Gasly and George Russell occupy the front row, while Oscar Piastri starts immediately ahead of the two red cars in third, setting up a closely packed fight at the front when the Italian Grand Prix begins.