Norris beats Piastri to claim Monza pole in thrilling qualifying, Verstappen endures shock result

F1 Grand Prix, GP Italy, Autodromo Nazionale di Monza

Lando Norris secured another pole position in the brutally closely-matched Monza qualifying, heading a McLaren one-two, with Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz taking only fourth and fifth respectively. F1technical's lead journalist Balázs Szabo reports from the Monza circuit.

As expected, the opening qualifying session provided a closely matched action, with the tiniest of margins separating the field.

Red Bull driver Sergio Perez found himself in danger as the session neared its conclusion, but the Mexican got himself through into Q2 with a late push lap.

Lando Norris set the pace in the opening session with a time of 1m19.911s. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc ended the session second.

Oscar Piastri was slightly off the pace after his first hot lap, but he rejoined the track in the final stages of Q1 to work his way up to P3.

Carlos Sainz endured a tour through the gravel trap on his first hot lap. With fears that the incident might have caused damage to his floor, he came in for inspection, but he easily secured a spot in Q2 with his second hot lap.

Mercedes drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton looked slightly off the pace, having ended the opening session in P4 and P7 despite going for a late second hot lap.

Max Verstappen was unable to put a clean lap together in the practice sessions bar the opening one, and his performance in Q1 still left question marks over his RB20’s potential at Monza.

Making his F1 debut at Monza, Franco Colapinto ended up 18th fastest, half a second off his team-mate Alexander Albon’s Q1 time. However, the Argentian racer beat the Sauber duo of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu.

Knocked out: Yuki Tsunoda, Lance Stroll, Franco Colapinto, Zhou Guanyu Zhou and Valtteri Bottas.

Lewis Hamilton set the pace in the second qualifying session, setting a time of 1m19.641s, improving eight tenths of a second compared to his Q1 time.

Max Verstappen and Lando Norris finished second and third respectively but both were within a tenth of a second of Hamilton's benchmark.

While the top drivers found a fairly big improvement from Q1 to Q2, Ferrari’s Monegasque racer Charles Leclerc did not look particularly comfortable in his SF-24, and had to contend himself with a seventh spot in the second qualifying session.

Williams driver Alexander Albon displayed great speed again at Monza, the race he had to miss two years ago with appendicitis. The London-born Thai driver set the ninth quickest lap to earn the promotion into Q3.

Nico Hulkenberg delivered another impressive performance for Haas, getting the cut into Q3. The German beat Fernando Alonso by only ten thousands of a second, which means that Aston Martin’s two-time champion will only line up 11th on the grid.

Knocked out: Fernando Alonso, Daniel Ricciardo, Kevin Magnussen, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly.

Lando Norris set the fastest lap of the weekend with a time of 1m19.327s on his second hot lap to head a McLaren one-two at Monza, from his team-mate Oscar Piastri in P2.

Depsite losing valuable track time on Friday, George Russell secured third place, having been only a tenth shy of Norris' benchmark.

Ferrari looked slightly off the pace in Q2, but they got their act together when it really mattered. Charles Leclerc ended up fourth fastest, from his team-mate Carlos Sainz in P5, with both only a tenth of a second slower than pole-sitter Norris.

Lewis Hamilton topped the second and third practice and Q2 as well, but he had to contend himself with P6 on the grid.

Championship leader Max Verstappen only managed a seventh spot on the grid, with his team-mate Sergio Perez following him in P8.

Alexander Albon took ninth for Williams, with Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg bringing up the rear of the top ten.