Verstappen grabs Monza pole with fastest F1 lap

Italian Grand Prix

Venue: Monza Date: 7 September Race start: 14:00 BST on Sunday

Coverage: Live commentary of race on BBC Radio 5 Live; live text updates on BBC Sport website and app

Red Bull's Max Verstappen snatched pole position for the Italian Grand Prix from Lando Norris with the fastest lap in Formula 1 history.

The Dutchman's time of one minute 18.792 seconds beat the lap set by Lewis Hamilton at Monza in 2020 for Mercedes by 0.095secs - at an average speed of 164.484mph.

Norris had just leapt to the top of the times after a difficult first run left him seventh, but Verstappen pipped him by 0.077 seconds for his first pole since the British Grand Prix in July.

McLaren's Oscar Piastri, leading Norris by 34 points in their championship battle, was third fastest, ahead of the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.

But the seven-time champion has a five-place penalty and will start the grand prix at Monza 10th.

That promotes Mercedes' George Russell to fifth, ahead of team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto, Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso and Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda.

Verstappen's pole time seemed to surprise even the Dutchman himself, after he struggled for pace through the practice sessions.

"Around here with the low downforce, it's always very difficult to nail the lap," Verstappen said. "Q3 felt good. Happy with the laps. The car has been working a lot better all weekend and to be on pole I'm very happy with that. For us, it's a great moment.

"Historically this season the race has been a little more complicated for us but we will give it everything we have."

The McLaren drivers said they had expected Verstappen to be in the mix.

Norris, who broke Hamilton's record first with his best lap of 1:18.869, said: "He's been quick all weekend. It's never a surprise with Max. It was quite a session from me, up and down, and too many mistakes, but I managed to pull it out in the end so I'm happy with P2.

"I feel like I didn't do the best of jobs but to end up P2 I'm still happy with.

"The race is normally our strength but to get past Max won't be easy. And the Ferraris will want to get through as quickly as possible."

Piastri was 0.113secs behind his team-mate after appearing to be a little off Norris' pace all weekend.

"Turn one was a little bit average, but the rest of the lap all felt pretty tidy," the Australian said.

"I felt like I executed a pretty good session but it's been incredibly tight this weekend. Max and Red Bull looked quick. A lot of teams looked quick, it has not been quite as comfortable for us."

Leclerc was second fastest behind Verstappen after the first runs in the final session with Hamilton fourth, but neither Ferrari driver could improve their time on their final laps.

Hamilton, who was 0.117secs off his team-mate at his first Italian Grand Prix for Ferrari, said: "It has generally been a better weekend. It was definitely a solid qualifying, felt like I got pretty much most that I wanted out of it.

"The last lap is never as good as you would hope it would be and that is something I have to work on with the balance I have with the car.

"I'm grateful I could at least be there, this penalty puts me further back but I will try and work my way through."

Referencing the atmosphere at Monza and devotion of the Ferrari fans, he added: "I am so excited. Every time you get on track it's so crazy, you see the crowd left and right and they jump to their feet. It's like nothing I've ever seen."

Russell had set the fastest time of all in the first part of qualifying using the medium tyre.

And when he left the pits for his final run in the final session, he questioned the team's choice of soft tyres, saying: "I thought I said I wanted the mediums."

The Briton ended up 0.365 off pole and just 0.043secs ahead of Antonelli, who recovered well from spinning off into the gravel early in second practice and missing most of the session.

Eighth and ninth were outstanding performances from Bortoleto and Alonso.

Bortoleto beat Sauber team-mate Nico Hulkenberg by four places and Alonso outperformed expectations at Aston Martin by some margin.

The team were expecting a difficult weekend after they lined up on the back of the grid at the Belgian Grand Prix, another high-speed track, because they have a car with too much drag.

But somehow Alonso got it into the top 10.

"I am definitely happy because it was a little bit unexpected to be in Q3," he said. "We committed to three sets of tyres in Q1 thinking that was our last session of the day and eventually we found ourselves in Q3 and P8 tomorrow after Lewis' penalty. So we take it.

"I think it is down to tyre preparation, to be honest. We found the sweet spot on the tyres. It has been difficult to find the peak grip on the first push on the tyres and in qualifying we changed a little but the approach and the car was much, much better."