Pierre Gasly delivered a spectacular showing at the Italian Grand Prix, clinching his inaugural Formula One pole position and sending a wave of surprise through the Alpine camp and the wider paddock. The French driver, who had just seen a court decision strip him of his podium finish from the Monaco Grand Prix, turned the tables at Monza by posting the fastest time in the final qualifying session. Entering the last segment of Q3, Gasly sat third on the leaderboard, having deliberately held back his ultimate lap.
When the clock ticked down, he unleashed a blistering final lap of 1:21.786, overtaking provisional pole-sitter George Russell by a razor‑thin margin of 0.060 seconds. The achievement marked a milestone for both driver and team: it was Gasly’s first pole after 190 Grand Prix starts, and it gave Alpine its maiden pole in the sport’s modern era, as well as the first for the Renault‑owned Enstone outfit since 2009.
The victory carried extra emotional weight for Gasly, who first tasted success at Monza six years earlier when he captured his only race win in an unlikely AlphaTauri triumph. That victory had also come on the high‑speed circuit, reinforcing a special connection between the driver and the historic Italian venue.
While Gasly celebrated, Russell was left to rue a "messy" final lap that saw him lose the top step to his rival. Nevertheless, the British driver will still line up on the front row in second place, as his teammate Kimi Antonelli will be forced to start from the back of the grid due to an engine‑change penalty.
Antonelli, who had assisted Russell with a tow during the session, qualified seventh but was always aware that the penalty would drop him to the rear regardless of his time. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri originally qualified third, but a three‑place grid drop for obstructing Red Bull’s Liam Lawson in Q2 pushed him down to sixth. This penalty promoted Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton to the third and fourth slots on the grid, with Max Verstappen slotting into fifth.
Both Ferraris, despite a challenging qualifying that failed to produce the pole‑winning pace expected of them, will start on the second row. Their effort to break into the top ten was barely enough, as Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto edged Hamilton by a mere 0.001 seconds in Q2, leaving Leclerc in ninth.
The final starting grid, after all penalties were applied, looked as follows: 1) Pierre Gasly (Alpine), 2) George Russell (Mercedes), 3) Oscar Piastri (McLaren, after penalty), 4) Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), 5) Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari), 6) Max Verstappen (Red Bull), 7) Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes, penalty), 8) Franco Colapinto (Alpine), 9) Lando Norris (McLaren), 10) Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls). Lando Norris, the reigning champion, found himself down in ninth after a series of setbacks. He lost a crucial tow on his final lap when Piastri made an error at the first chicane, but he still managed to climb to eighth thanks to Antonelli’s penalty.
With the championship leader forced to the back, Alpine’s other driver, Franco Colapinto, moved up to seventh, while Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad secured ninth. The weekend had been a rollercoaster for Gasly and Alpine.
Earlier on Friday, the FIA’s International Court of Appeal reinstated a pit‑lane speeding penalty from the Monaco race, demoting Gasly’s result from third to seventh – a decision that had initially seemed to dampen the team’s morale. Yet the Frenchman turned that disappointment into motivation, delivering a performance that appeared almost implausible given Alpine’s modest form just a season earlier, when they finished at the bottom of the standings in 2025. In practice, Gasly was only ninth fastest, trailing Russell by six‑tenths of a second.
However, Alpine appeared to have refined the car’s rear‑wing configuration for Monza’s ultra‑fast layout, and the changes paid off. Gasly topped Q1, then held his own in Q2, finishing fourth and staying ahead of the pole favourite, Russell.
The early part of Q3 saw Russell set the fastest time, but Gasly stayed within striking distance, only 0.072 seconds off the lead. The decisive moment arrived when Piastri locked up at the first chicane, ruining his own pole bid, and Russell’s warm‑up lap for his final attempt was compromised. Gasly seized the opportunity, delivering a flawless lap that vaulted him into the top spot. The Alpine garage erupted in celebration, and an exuberant Gasly could be heard on the team radio shouting, "Yessssss!
Let's go. I've been waiting for that one!" In his post‑qualifying interview, Gasly reflected on the significance of the achievement: "From the first lap in Q1, I felt very good in the car. I tried to chip away a little bit, every single session, and it felt like a very good lap. It's been nine years trying to chase the opportunity to get a pole.
I won my first race in Monza and got my first pole at this track. It's something special around here." Russell, ever the sportsman, praised Gasly’s performance and added a personal anecdote: "Massive congrats to Pierre. That's an incredible performance.
We were finishing a game of chess about 15 minutes before qualifying and he beat me there and I went 'well, I think I will beat you in qualifying' and here we are, he's ahead of me again! Huge congrats to him. I was disappointed to not get pole position.
It was a bit messy with Verstappen opening the lap, I did the lap very close, but Pierre and Alpine have been super fast." Gasly’s pole also marked a historic moment for French drivers in Formula 1. He became the first Frenchman to stand atop the grid since Jean Alesi captured pole for Benetton at Monza in 1997, a team that can be considered a predecessor of today’s Alpine operation. The race schedule for Sunday, September 6, includes a full program of support categories: the F3 Feature Race at 7:10 am, the F2 Feature Race at 8:40 am, the Porsche Supercup at 10:40 am, followed by the main Grand Prix event at 2:00 pm on Sky Sports F1, with post‑race analysis and commentary slated for the afternoon. Fans can stream the action via NOW, with the flexibility to cancel at any time.