Leclerc on pole as confusion reigns over Italian GP grid

Charles Leclerc has claimed pole position for the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix at the head of a confused and mixed-up grid.

Penalties for nine drivers will shake up the starting order, with Leclerc set to head the field away regardless.

Max Verstappen qualified second fastest but won’t start there due to a five-placed grid penalty, while third fastest Carlos Sainz will slip from third to 18th.

It was a complicated and confusing climax to a session which left Leclerc on pole seemingly the only certainty.

The bulk of the field didn’t emerge from pit lane in the opening 18-minute segment until five minutes had elapsed.

They did so with Yuki Tsunoda sitting atop the timesheets with a 1:22.762s, the Scuderia AlphaTauri driver one of the few who’d headed out early.

That lasted only until the two Red Bull drivers recorded their first flying laps, Verstappen managing a 1:22.023s and 1:22.085s for Sergio Perez.

It was then the turn of the Ferraris to go fastest with Leclerc setting a 1:21.280s with Sainz second best on a 1:21.348s.

George Russell settled in third best, benefitting from a tow from Lewis Hamilton to bank a 1:21.785s.

Nyck de Vries displayed impressive pace, the Dutchman drafted in shortly before Free Practice 3 to replace the unwell Alex Albon.

He was 0.02s faster than his Williams team-mate Nicholas Latifi after their first runs.

Having stayed out on track for a longer run on his first set of tyres, Verstappen returned to the top of the timing sheets with a 1:20.922s.

The first part of the session ended with Latifi eliminated, as was Sebastian Vettel, Lance Stroll, Kevin Magnussen, and Mick Schumacher.

De Vries survived in 15th in his maiden Formula 1 qualifying session, despite losing a lap time for track limits.

It took the better part of three minutes for the field to emerge from their garages as Qualifying 2 commenced.

Sainz displayed strong early pace on a used set of tyres, mustering a 1:20.878s to go fastest.

Team-mate Leclerc made a mistake into Variante de Retifilo to ruin his first lap.

He remained on track, his next effort resulting in a 1:21.208s despite a wild moment through Ascari.

Tsunoda opted not to run with the others initially, the only driver not to have set a time of the 15 that remained in qualifying.

The final flurry began with just over two minutes remaining.

De Vries was at the head of the queue, while Tsunoda did not head out – he’s due to start from the rear of the grid anyway – nor did the Ferrari or Red Bull pairings.

De Vries locked the rears under braking into Variante Della Roggia, forcing him to abandon the lap without time to start another.

He sat 12th at the time, which became 13th once Daniel Ricciardo improved to lift himself out of the elimination zone.

Missing the cut were Esteban Ocon, Valtteri Bottas, de Vries, Guanyu Zhou, and Tsunoda.

All 10 remaining runners took to the circuit once Qualifying 3 got underway, with most running one behind the other where they had multiple cars remaining.

Curiously, Sainz was running behind Leclerc, despite the Spaniard being set to start from the rear of the grid owing to power unit penalties.

The first flying laps saw Sainz fastest from Leclerc, with Verstappen third from Perez.

Having returned to the pits for a fresh set of tyres, the field headed out once more as the session built to a crescendo.

In doing so, Leclerc nabbed pole position with a 1:20.161s ahead of Verstappen.

However, while the Dutchman logged a 1:20.306s to go second fastest, he’ll start seventh on the grid after his penalty is applied.

Sainz was third best from Perez and Hamilton, with Russell sixth moving up to the front row.

The balance of the top 10 was Norris, Ricciardo, Gasly, and Alonso.

The grid order, however, will be significantly different with de Vries set to feature inside the top 10, alongside Verstappen on an all-Dutch fourth row.

It was a complicated and confusing finale then as the qualifying as the session ended meant little in the overall scheme of things given the sheer number of penalties set to be applied.

Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix gets underway at 15:00 CEST (09:00 ET/23:00 AEST)

Results: Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix, Qualifying