2026 F1 Round 13 Italian Grand Prix qualifying: Gasly steals pole on his final lap for maiden career pole, Russell second by 0.060s

In qualifying for the F1 Italian Grand Prix on September 5, Pierre Gasly set a 1:21.786 on his final Q3 run to beat George Russell by 0.060s and claim the first pole position of his career. It was also the team’s first pole since racing under the Alpine name. Gasly’s first F1 victory in 2020 also came at Monza.

Topped Q1, advanced from Q2 by one thousandth of a second

Gasly showed his pace from Q1, placing ahead of Verstappen with a 1:22.612. Colapinto also made the top four, and both Alpine cars advanced comfortably. Yuki Tsunoda finished 17th, 0.139s slower than Sainz on the cut line, and was eliminated in Q1 along with Albon, the two Cadillacs and the two Aston Martins.

Antonelli topped Q2 with a 1:21.882, followed by Piastri, Norris and Gasly. Ferrari only secured both cars in Q3 on the final run: Hamilton posted a 1:22.516, just 0.001s quicker than Bortoleto, to take the last Q3 place.

Gasly’s final lap reshapes the pole fight

In the opening Q3 runs, Russell benefited from Antonelli’s slipstream to sit ahead of Piastri and Gasly. On the final attempts, Piastri made a braking mistake at Turn 1 and broke off the planned tow with Norris. Russell then improved, but Gasly went quicker still and moved to the top of the timesheets.

Piastri held onto third in qualifying, with Leclerc and Hamilton fourth and fifth respectively; the two Ferrari drivers were separated by just 0.007s. After qualifying, Gasly said the car had felt good from Q1 and that he had found improvement session by session; he felt it was especially special to take his first pole at the track where he took his maiden win.

Power unit grid penalties confirmed before qualifying

Antonelli, Lawson and Albon had already been sent to the back of the grid before qualifying due to penalties for taking excess power unit components. Antonelli qualified seventh, Colapinto eighth, Norris ninth and Lindblad tenth in this session. The obstruction incident involving Piastri and Lawson in Q2 had already been noted by the stewards.

Full qualifying results