Pierre Gasly Secures Maiden Pole at Monza
Pierre Gasly ripped up the script at Monza, taking a stunning maiden Formula 1 pole while Oscar Piastri’s afternoon veered from brilliant to bruising in the space of a stewards’ verdict.
The Alpine driver, already a race winner at the Temple of Speed, stopped the clock at 1:21.786 in qualifying to secure top spot on the grid for the Italian Grand Prix. It was a lap nine years in the making.
“In the end it felt like a very good lap,” Gasly said. “I am so happy – it has been nine years, trying to chase and get the opportunity to get pole position. To win my first race in Monza, get my first pole position on this track, it is something special around here.”
He knew it the moment he crossed the line.
“Let’s go!” he roared over team radio. “Been waiting for that one!”
George Russell will line up alongside him in second after a 1:21.846, with Charles Leclerc third for Ferrari. Lewis Hamilton, also in red for Ferrari, starts fourth, and Max Verstappen’s Red Bull will launch from fifth.
Piastri? On raw pace, he belonged on the front row of that story. The McLaren star delivered the third-fastest time in Q3 with a 1:21.966, a lap that underlined how comfortable he looked all afternoon.
Then came the penalty.
Stewards hit the Australian with a three-place grid drop for impeding Liam Lawson in Q2, dropping him from third to sixth. The flashpoint came at the first chicane as Piastri crawled out of the pits and straight into the path of a flying Racing Bulls.
The New Zealander’s fury crackled over the radio.
“Dude, what the f--k?!”
Piastri’s version painted a picture of a driver caught in a tightening vice.
“It was a tricky situation to manage,” he said. “I was coming out of the pits and got told that Lawson and Verstappen were coming, but I had to jump on the brakes pretty heavily to get out of Max’s way, and then I was just stuck in a very awkward spot with Liam.”
The lap times showed just how fine the margins were. Gasly, Russell and Piastri all set their best efforts in Q3, separated by less than two tenths. Lando Norris, by contrast, could only manage a 1:22.067 in Q2, leaving him adrift of the fight for pole.
For Piastri, the performance still carried encouragement after a scrappy build-up.
“Things have been a little better this weekend,” he said. “Lap times haven’t been spectacular in practice because it’s been quite messy in general.
“I feel like in qualifying for most parts we got ourselves in a good position in the train and got a slipstream, and that was all we needed. We put ourselves in the right spot, and I think I executed a good lap.”
The story of the session, though, belonged to Gasly and an Alpine team few expected to be anywhere near the front. Russell admitted as much.
“To be totally honest, I don’t think we thought they [Alpine] were in the fight,” the Mercedes driver said. “It goes to show what a great job he did.”
So Monza wakes up to a grid that nobody forecast: Gasly on pole, Russell in pursuit, Ferrari stacked on the second row, Verstappen lurking, and Piastri shuffled back to sixth, simmering with the knowledge that his speed deserved more.
On a circuit that loves chaos and rewards courage on the brakes, that mix promises a volatile Italian Grand Prix.
