Verstappen storms to record Italian GP pole

Verstappen’s lap of 1m18.792 broke the lap record at Monza held by Lewis Hamilton, and also set the record for the fastest lap in the history of F1 by average speed.

Norris had looked like it was him who would hold those records, setting his lap mere seconds before Verstappen, finishing behind the Dutchman by 0.077s.

Oscar Piastri wasn’t able to find the pace like he did a week ago in the Netherlands when it mattered, finishing third just 0.190s off Verstappen’s pole.

It was Verstappen’s fifth pole of the season and the 45th of his career, overtaking Sebastian Vettel for the most pole positions in Red Bull’s history.

The Dutchman said the team had made a few tweaks to his car from practice that helped him nail pole position.

“I think around here with the low downforce it’s always very difficult to nail the lap,” he explained. “Q3 felt good, happy with the laps. To be on pole here is fantastic.

“To be able to fight for pole, I’m very happy with that. We were still lacking a tiny amount. We made a few changes which allowed me to push a bit more. For us it’s a great moment.”

Verstappen said he was hopeful the pace shown so far will help him push towards his third win of the season.

“Historically this season, the race has always been more complicated for us,” he added. “We’re going to give it everything we have, and we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”

Norris said he was satisfied with the front row start, and wasn’t shocked to see Verstappen ahead of him.

“Max has been quick all weekend and it’s never a surprise with Max,” he said. “To put it all together on the last lap was good so I’m pretty happy with P2.

“I feel like I didn’t do the best of jobs but to end up with P2 was good.”

He added he hopes to be able to make up ground in the race tomorrow.

“I want to be ahead of everyone, and that includes my championship contenders and Oscar,” he said.

“Our race on the Sunday is normally our strength, but to get past Max will be a challenge.

“I don’t expect any magical things…it’s a long race, many things can happen. We’ll see what we can do.”

Piastri said that he felt he lost time during the first sector, but was overall satisfied with his performance.

“Turn 1 was a little bit average, but the rest of the lap felt pretty tidy,” he said. “It’s just been incredibly tight this weekend.

“It’s not been quite as comfortable for us. The result isn’t a surprise but we’d like to be a little bit further up.

“I’ll try to make up a few spots tomorrow as I’d like a few more wins if I can.”

Ferrari wasn’t quite able to match their FP1 heroics, with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton only managing fourth and fifth. Hamilton will drop to 10th however with his five-place grid penalty from the Dutch Grand Prix.

Mercedes had shown pace early on in the session with George Russell topping Q1, but weren’t fully able to push for pole position. Russell finished the session in sixth, one spot ahead of his teammate Kimi Antonelli, who did well to recover from his earlier dramas in practice on Friday.

Gabriel Bortoleto secured his third top-10 start in the last four races, finishing the session in an impressive eighth, ahead of Fernando Alonso and Yuki Tsunoda, who made it into Q3 for the first time since the Belgian Grand Prix.

Q2 was a tight affair, with the top 10 covered by less than three tenths of a second.

Norris flirted with danger after his first lap was deleted for exceeding track limits, forcing him to rely on his final run to scrape into Q3.

His gain came at the expense of Oliver Bearman, the Haas rookie narrowly missing out in 11th as Norris edged through.

Also out were Nico Hulkenberg, the Williams pair of Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon, and his teammate Esteban Ocon.

It was a particularly bitter blow for Williams, who had shown strong pace in practice but failed to convert it into a top-10 appearance.

In Q1, the top 15 were separated by only 0.423s, with Isack Hadjar just 0.503s adrift of Russell’s fastest time of 1m19.414 in 16th place.

It marked the first Q1 elimination of Hadjar’s career, as well as Racing Bulls’ first double Q1 exit of 2025, with Liam Lawson also dropping out in the opening phase.

The Kiwi was on a fast lap in the closing stages but had his time deleted, abandoning the attempt, and will line up 20th and last — his lowest grid position since his final race for Red Bull at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Hadjar’s weekend looks set to worsen, with the team expected to make changes to his gearbox and PU components ahead of the race, which will drop the Frenchman to the rear of the grid.

Lance Stroll and the two Alpines of Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly joined the Racing Bulls pair in being eliminated in Q1.

The Italian Grand Prix gets underway at 3pm local time on Sunday (11pm AEST).