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Lando Norris has rocketed to pole position ahead of Oscar Piastri as Max Verstappen could do no better than seventh.
It proved a competitive qualifying session with McLaren, Mercedes, and Ferrari all within touching distance – the top six split by less than two-tenths.
Meanwhile Daniel Ricciardo missed out on the top 10 to line up 12th for RB, acknowledging it was the best he and the car could manage.
Track evolution on the new Monza surface had proved significant during practice, triggering a slow start to the session as teams looked to be on track in the latter moments of the segment.
Ferrari was among the few teams to run comparatively early, along with the Haas, Alpine, and Zhou Guanyu for Sauber.
A mistake through Lesmo 2 saw Carlos Sainz essentially abort his lap, his time more than three seconds slower than his team-mate behind – who benefitted from a slipstream courtesy of the error.
Leclerc was fastest, his initial 1:20.074s faster than pole position from 2023.
It was two-tenths quicker than Max Verstappen could muster as Lando Norris went fastest by a tenth – largely replicating the competitive order seen in final practice.
Oscar Piastri locked up into the first chicane to ruin his first lap, which was deleted for track limits after he bounced through the escape road.
He was able to minimise the error and protect his tyres well enough to go again, completing the lap in 1:20.488s to sit fourth.
Neither Mercedes driver had emerged from the lane until nine minutes remained.
George Russell was the faster of the two when they did, bumping Piastri from fourth with team-mate Lewis Hamilton on place further back as the Australian slipped to sixth.
A second run from Sainz, on the same set of tyres he’d used earlier, moved him from 20th up to third with six minutes remaining.
Heading into the final Qualifying 1 runs, the bottom five was Franco Colapinto, Yuki Tsunoda, Valtteri Bottas, Sergio Perez, and Zhou Guanyu.
Perez headed out for his without a drafting partner as he looked to find around half a second to progress, duly improving to ninth with a 1:20.598s.
In pit lane, Piastri was released into the path of Verstappen in an incident noted by officials as an unsafe release.
In the closing seconds, Kevin Magnussen and Franco Colapinto had moments; the latter at Lesmo 2 and the former in Parabolica.
Magnussen appeared to strike car issues and slowed, the yellow falgs covering the Haas withdrawn in time for Daniel Ricciardo to extract himself from the bottom five.
As the segment ended, in the drop zone were Tsunoda, Lance Stroll, Colapinto, Bottas, and Zhou.
Ferrari was again among the first on track as Qualifying 2 began, Leclerc setting the early pace with 1:20.296s – slower than he’d managed in Qualifying 1 but on a set of scrubbed tyres.
With new tyres, Verstappen soon went faster with a 1:19.874s, though it was swiftly bettered by Piastri and then Norris as the McLaren pair made the most of their new set of softs.
Russell and Hamilton ran two minutes later, Russell slotting in fourth, which quickly became fifth as Hamilton topped the timesheets with a 1:19.661s.
Ferrari performed a racing pit stop to swap both Leclerc and Sainz onto new tyres, meaning they were also heavy with fuel on their initial Q2 laps.
Sainz improved, but only to third after losing out in the final sector, Leclerc even less impressive to slot in seventh.
Ricciardo sat 15th after his initial Q2 run, his 1:21.273s half a second away from Esteban Ocon in 14th and eight-tenths away from Alex Albon in 10th. It was also three-tenths slower than he’d gone in Qualifying 1.
There was a final run for all but Norris and Sainz.
Perez logged a 1:20.216s to sit eighth as he ended his lap, while Ricciardo went 11th to confirm his exit a minute before the chequered flag waved.
Joining the Australian on the sidelines were Fernando Alonso, who bumped Ricciardo to 12th, Magnussen, Pierre Gasly, and Esteban Ocon.
All four leading teams had both drivers progress to Qualifying 3, joined by Albon and Nico Hulkenberg.
It was a busy start to Qualifying 3, with all 10 remaining drivers easing out of the lane as it began.
Perez was the first of the front runners to record a lap, a 1:20.062s that quickly saw him fall down the order.
An aggressive lap from Oscar Piastri saw him six-tenths faster than the Red Bull Racing driver, edged by 0.03s by Norris to lock both McLarens onto the provisional front row.
It was a Noah’s ark grid as the two Mercedes then followed, Russell ahead of Hamilton, then Sainz, Leclerc, Perez, and Verstappen, who was 0.01s slower than his team-mate.
The championship leader was on a new set of tyres, but complaining of a general lack of grip, evidenced by a slide through the Parabolica which hurt the end of his lap.
Red Bull Racing headed the field back out for the final runs, Perez ahead of Verstappen, with Hulkenberg following them out.
The opening sector wasn’t not especially impressive for Verstappen, losing more time through the middle of the lap while he negotiated his way beyond the two Mercedes and Perez in the run to the Parabolica.
Perez aborted his lap after dropping a wheel at Lesmo 2, relegated to eighth by Verstappen.
Norris improved on his best to remain fastest, Piastri holding on to second though unable to improve his time.
Sainz did improve, as did Leclerc, the Ferrari pair slotting in third and fourth.
That became fourth and fifth when Russell completed his lap to sit third, with Hamilton remaining sixth.
Norris to Hamilton were covered by less than two-tenths, Verstappen almost seven-tenths away in seventh place.
