Qualifying Highlights | 2026 Italian Grand Prix

Hulkenberg has to put in a lap here in the Audi to sneak himself through, and through two sectors he's done a really good job actually. Yes, his second run he only had one run, Alex Albon only had one run earlier on. Norris goes to third. Behrmann is not improving across his three sectors. We'll watch out for whether Hulkenberg can get on terms with his teammate Bortoletto. Lindblad again. That Red Bull power very strong in the final sector. Gasly top of the pile continues. Hulkenberg gets to 14th. Ocon gets to 15th. And we now have Sunoda in the drop zone. And Sunoda's gone. He's come through and he's not improved. No, middle sector looked good. Final sector did not for Yuki Sunoda. Sainz in 16th. Ocon in 15th. Hulkenberg P14. Checkered flag is out. Sunoda, Albon, Bottas ahead of Perez. Alonso ahead of Stroll. And that in a melee, in a train, is the end of it. Hulkenberg got the improvement and Sunoda did not get the final sector he needed. And here we go. Yeah, we are going to tow Liam Lawson around. So here we go on board the New Zealander. Gotta get that brake right. Oh, car in the way. The McLaren of Oscar Piastri. That's a penalty coming for Piastri. Slam dunk, I'm afraid. Two tenths away from the benchmark at the moment. But can he give himself any opportunity right at the end of the lap? Verstappen plays the team game. Peels away, getting very tight in the background. He's got a couple of tenths of a second to make up. Remember, this is gonna put one hand behind Red Bull's back when they fight for position. If Lawson can't get through. And Lawson can't get through. The McLaren in the way at Turn 1 having a big impact on the rest of their weekend. Leclerc's got no slipstream. Ferrari have just put Leclerc ahead at Hamilton. Neither of them are going particularly quickly. They've got to find a mega final sector. And Behrman is part of this queue as well, trying to take advantage. Where does it all shake out? Across the line. P9 at the moment for a former winner around here. No improvement for Charles Leclerc. Hamilton gets to 10th. Behrman can't improve. Arvid Lindblad comes across the line. He stays in P7. Antonelli, fastest in the middle sector, finds himself going to the top of the pile. Can anyone improve behind? It's Bortoletto, who's 11th, who might be able to respond. The two Audis are going for it. Watch for the silver car. About to come through the heat haze in a moment. Can he find his way through there? There you go. He's got a distant toe from the Alpine ahead. Bortoletto misses out by one thousandth of a second. Wow! He got close to causing a massive shock. But Hamilton scrapes through. Leclerc scrapes through. And Bortoletto getting, oh, so close to breaking home hearts. Hamilton is part of Q3, but only just. Here come the first efforts then. The Parabolica left behind. Russell, second in the points. Comes across the line. It's a 1.21.9 to beat. Next up is Norris, who's not too far away. But Piastri, three hundredths of a second behind. Gasly ahead of Norris to P3. He's never started in the top four around this racetrack for a Grand Prix. Verstappen is into fourth place. Norris down to fifth. And shall Leclerc find some speed for Ferrari? Look at the gaps between the top four. Less than a tenth of a second. Remarkable. Yeah, it is tight. And just highlights the fact that this pole position could go any way. They're going to get one more shot at it. And meanwhile, we're going to see what Hamilton, with the all-by-myself strategy, where does that give him? It puts him P8. The crucial moment of the qualifying hour is here. Piastri punching the hole this time for Lando Norris. Does he have the trust on the brakes? That's the end of it for Piastri. So that's not gone to plan. Does Norris make the corner behind? One driver leading out the other. The first one butchers it. The second one now is a parachute all to himself out front. Yeah, the saving grace, I guess, is that he's not giving a slipstream to Verstappen, who curiously didn't sort of hustle that outlap to get himself in a position to benefit from the slipstream of McLaren. So he's running and creating a slipstream for the Mercedes cars. George Russell is following Max Verstappen. Can anyone find a personal best? They've all gone through the first sector. There's not a single green sector on our timing page apart from Lewis Hamilton and Pierre Gasly. Can Gasly do it? Norris is struggling. He's all out there on his own. He's got to put in something majestic to improve. And from four tenths down, I doubt it'll happen. So seventh place could be a horrible return for Lando Norris. Gasly is going to appear in the left-hand side of your screen, trying to unleash an almighty shock. Russell has the fastest middle sector of anyone so far. Gasly has never taken a pole position in Formula 1. Over the line goes Norris. No improvement. And we'll wait to see the others through here, including Max Verstappen. Gasly is flying. He's in the mix with one corner to go. Let's see them across the line. This could be momentous. We go across the line with Verstappen. George Russell improves his time. Is it by enough? Next comes Charles Leclerc. Gasly is out of the Parabolica. Can he do something mesmeric over the line? Pierre Gasly does it! That is absolutely unbelievable! He's won around here before, and now Pierre Gasly has pole position for Alpine. Absolutely incredible! For the first time in Formula 1, Pierre Gasly takes pole. He's beaten George Russell by six hundredths of a second. Extraordinary. Formula 1 is the gift that just keeps on giving. Come on, tell me! That is old. Let's go! Been waiting for that one! Only his second front row start for a Grand Prix in Formula 1, and with his family celebrating. It's not the P2 of Qatar in 2021. It's pole at Monza, and Gasly punches the air with delight. Formula 1 predictable. Not a chance. Well done. Awesome. Amazing. Thank you very much. Very well managed. Amazing, amazing, amazing. Oh, that was good. Oh, I like this track. Points handed out tomorrow, but you've got to underline this. This used to be a circuit where the Enstone team turned up and they took the pain. They are on pole for the first time ever as Alpine, and Gasly turns the disappointment of a lost podium into his best ever qualifying performance. A genuine shock. And the man starting at the front of the field is Pierre Gasly.