Pierre Gasly delivered a spectacular display at the Italian Grand Prix, earning his maiden Formula One pole position and stunning the usual front‑runners. After a court decision stripped him of his podium finish from the Monaco Grand Prix, the Alpine driver entered the Monza qualifying session with little expectation, yet he quickly became a genuine threat on the high‑speed circuit.
During the final segment of qualifying (Q3), Gasly was sitting third on the leaderboard. Rather than trying to improve his time early, he conserved his best effort for the last run. When the clock ticked down, he unleashed a blistering lap of 1:21.786, overtaking provisional pole‑sitter George Russell by a razor‑thin margin of 0.060 seconds.
The Frenchman’s lap not only vaulted him into the top spot but also marked his first pole in his 190th Grand Prix start, a milestone that arrived six years after his lone career victory – also achieved at Monza under improbable circumstances while driving for AlphaTauri. The pole is historic for several reasons. It is the inaugural pole position for the Alpine brand in Formula 1 and the first for the Enstone‑based team, owned by Renault, since 2009.
The achievement was celebrated in the Alpine garage, where a elated Gasly shouted over the team radio, "Yessssss! Let's go.
I've been waiting for that one!" In his post‑qualifying interview, he reflected on the long journey: "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." George Russell, who had led the session early on, described his lap as "messy" after being caught behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen at the start of his final attempt. Despite missing out on pole, Russell will line up second on the grid, securing the front row alongside Gasly. His teammate, Kimi Antonelli, will start from the back of the field after incurring engine‑change penalties, a setback that will see the Mercedes driver drop to the rear despite qualifying seventh. McLaren's Oscar Piastri originally qualified third but received a three‑place grid penalty for obstructing Red Bull's Liam Lawson in Q2.
Consequently, he will start from sixth place. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were promoted to third and fourth, respectively, with Verstappen moving into fifth. Both Ferraris will occupy the second row, even though their qualifying pace fell short of the pole‑winning speed expected earlier in the weekend.
The top ten 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) – engine penalty 8) Franco Colapinto (Alpine) 9) Lando Norris (McLaren) 10) Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) Lando Norris, the reigning champion, qualified ninth after a turbulent final lap in Q3. A mistake by Piastri at the first chicane disrupted Norris’s tow, but he still moved up to eighth on the grid thanks to Antonelli’s penalties.
With the championship leader (Russell) relegated to the back of the field, Alpine’s second driver Franco Colapinto will start seventh, followed by Norris in eighth and Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad in ninth. Gabriel Bortoleto, who narrowly missed the top ten in Q2, will line up tenth.
The weekend’s drama began on Friday when the FIA International Court of Appeal reinstated Gasly’s pit‑lane speeding penalties from Monaco, demoting his result from third to seventh – a decision that had already been revised once. The Alpine team could have been demoralised, but instead they responded with a performance that seemed almost unimaginable. Alpine’s 2026 campaign has shown marked improvement over the dismal 2025 season, when the team finished at the bottom of the constructors' standings. Until Saturday, they had never started a race higher than seventh on the grid.
In the final practice session, Gasly was ninth fastest, a full 0.6 seconds off Russell’s benchmark, yet the Mercedes‑powered A526 suddenly became a pole contender in qualifying. Technical adjustments appeared to play a role. Alpine trimmed the rear‑wing angles to suit Monza’s ultra‑fast layout, giving the car more straight‑line speed.
Gasly topped Q1, then solidified his pace with a fourth‑place finish in Q2, staying ahead of the pole favourite Russell. In the opening runs of Q3, Russell posted the fastest time, but Gasly stayed within striking distance, only 0.072 seconds off the lead. The decisive moment arrived on Gasly’s final lap. While Piastri locked up into the first chicane, compromising his own pole bid, and Russell’s warm‑up run was disrupted, Gasly seized the opportunity, delivering a flawless lap that eclipsed both rivals.
The result triggered an outburst of celebration in the Alpine pit lane. Russell later paid tribute to Gasly, noting a friendly chess match they had played just minutes before qualifying. "Massive congrats to Pierre. That's an incredible performance," he 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 achievement also carries a national significance.
He becomes the first French driver to claim an F1 pole since Jean Alesi’s Benetton pole at Monza in 1997, linking his success to the heritage of the Alpine‑origin team. The race weekend schedule is packed: the F3 Feature Race at 7:10 am, F2 Feature Race at 8:40 am, Porsche Supercup at 10:40 am, followed by the Italian Grand Prix itself at 2:00 pm on Sky Sports F1.
The event will be streamed via NOW, with a flexible subscription that can be cancelled at any time. Overall, Gasly’s pole at Monza represents a turning point for both driver and team, showcasing how perseverance, strategic car development, and a bit of opportunistic timing can combine to produce a historic result in the world’s premier motorsport.