Pierre Gasly delivered a stunning performance at the Italian Grand Prix, clinching his maiden Formula One pole position and shocking the usual front‑running teams. The Alpine driver, who had recently seen his podium from the Monaco Grand Prix stripped away by a court decision, turned the tables at Monza by posting the fastest time in the final qualifying session. Heading into the last segment of Q3, Gasly sat third on the leaderboard, deliberately holding back his optimal lap for the very end.
When the checkered flag fell on his final attempt, he recorded a blistering 1:21.786, edging out provisional pole‑sitter George Russell by 0.060 seconds and seizing the coveted top spot. This achievement marks Gasly's first pole in his 190th Grand Prix start, arriving six years after his lone career victory, which also came at Monza under similarly improbable circumstances while driving for AlphaTauri.
It is also a historic moment for the Alpine brand, representing the first pole for the Renault‑owned Enstone team since 2009. The Frenchman’s triumph was celebrated with an exuberant radio call‑out: "Yessssss! Let's go. I've been waiting for that one!" He later reflected, "From the first lap in Q1 I felt very good in the car.
I tried to chip away a little bit each 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 now I have my first pole at this track. It's something special around here." Russell, who had led the early part of the final lap before being delayed by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, was left to rue a "messy" start to his final attempt.
Despite missing out on pole, the Mercedes driver will line up second on the front row, while his teammate Kimi Antonelli is set to start from the back of the grid due to an engine‑change penalty. Antonelli, who had assisted Russell with a tow during qualifying, qualified seventh but was already aware of the inevitable drop.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri originally qualified third but incurred a three‑place grid penalty for obstructing Red Bull’s Liam Lawson in Q2. Consequently, Piastri will start from sixth, promoting Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton to third and fourth respectively, with Verstappen moving into fifth.
Both Ferraris will occupy the second row despite a challenging qualifying session that saw their expected pole‑pace fail to materialise. The team was fortunate to have both cars in the top ten after Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto edged Hamilton by a razor‑thin 0.001 seconds to claim tenth fastest in Q2, while Leclerc had been ninth. The provisional top ten after penalties were applied looked as follows: 1) Pierre Gasly (Alpine), 2) George Russell (Mercedes), 3) Oscar Piastri (McLaren)*, 4) Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), 5) Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari), 6) Max Verstappen (Red Bull), 7) Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)**, 8) Franco Colapinto (Alpine), 9) Lando Norris (McLaren), 10) Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls). *Piastri receives a three‑place grid drop, **Antonelli will start at the back due to engine penalties.
Lando Norris, the reigning champion, qualified only ninth after a turbulent session. He lost a tow on his final lap when Piastri made a mistake at the first chicane, but benefitted from Antonelli’s penalties to move up to eighth on the grid. Alpine’s other driver, Franco Colapinto, will start seventh, while Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad occupies ninth and Bortoleto rounds out the top ten. The backdrop to this dramatic qualifying was a fraught Friday for Gasly and Alpine.
The FIA’s International Court of Appeal reinstated the pit‑lane speeding penalties from Monaco, demoting Gasly’s Monaco result from third to seventh for the second time. Overcoming that setback, the team managed to transform a car that had only been ninth fastest in the final practice session—six tenths off Russell’s pace—into a pole‑winning machine. Alpine appears to have refined the rear‑wing setup for Monza’s high‑speed layout, allowing the A526 chassis to extract maximum downforce while remaining aerodynamically efficient. During Q1, Gasly topped the timesheets, dispelling any notion that his pole was a fluke.
He followed that with a solid fourth‑place finish in Q2, staying ahead of the pole favourite Russell. In the early stages of Q3, Russell posted the fastest time, but Gasly remained in contention, sitting third and just 0.072 seconds off the leader. The final run unfolded perfectly for the Frenchman: Piastri locked up into the first chicane, compromising his chance, while Russell’s warm‑up lap was disrupted. Seizing the moment, Gasly delivered a flawless lap that catapulted him into first place.
Russell later paid tribute to Gasly, noting that the French driver had even beaten him at chess shortly before qualifying. "Massive congrats to Pierre. That's an incredible performance," Russell said.
"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 is also historically significant for France.
He becomes the first French driver to secure a pole position since Jean Alesi’s 1997 pole for Benetton—an antecedent of the modern Alpine team—also achieved at Monza. The result underscores Alpine’s resurgence after a dismal 2025 season in which they finished at the bottom of the constructors’ standings. Until this weekend, the team had never started a race higher than seventh on the grid, making the pole a remarkable milestone. Looking ahead, the Sunday race schedule is packed: 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 Italian Grand Prix itself at 2:00 pm on Sky Sports F1.
Fans can stream the coverage via NOW without a long‑term contract. The excitement generated by Gasly’s unexpected pole sets the stage for a thrilling race day at Ferrari’s home circuit, where the battle for championship points will intensify under the iconic arches of Monza.