– Sensation in qualifying for the 2026 Italian Grand Prix: Pierre Gasly, Monza winner from 2020, secured pole position for Sunday’s race in a thrilling slipstream battle. A surprise that probably no one had bet on before the weekend – but which had already become apparent in Q1 and Q2.
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George Russell (Mercedes), who finished second with a 0.060-second deficit, was at a loss when he was informed over the radio that Gasly had beaten his time: “Well …” Meanwhile, Gasly was understandably over the moon: “Wow. I’ve been waiting for this for so long!” And later, in front of live cameras: “Sometimes a lap this good doesn’t even get you into Q3. But today the car was right.”
For Gasly, the sensation did not come out of nowhere: “It already felt good yesterday in the second practice. Then we made a few changes this morning, but we never had a slipstream in practice. I knew there was more to come. And then we just executed it perfectly in qualifying. The balance was probably the best it has been all year, and that gave me the confidence to attack fully in the corners when it mattered.”
Local hero Antonelli (grid penalty due to engine change) did his duty in the first run and pulled Russell up to the first corner. He was only able to set his own time a little later, between the first and second run, when no one else was on the track. Without a slipstream, he initially drove to 6th place. This allowed him to support Russell again in the final showdown, who in turn complained about a weak front axle. In the end, Antonelli secured P7.
After the first Q3 run, Russell was leading ahead of Oscar Piastri (McLaren), Gasly, and Charles Leclerc (Ferrari). Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) was eighth. The seven-time world champion left the pits later than everyone else and therefore had no slipstream.
For the second run, Piastri had the worst starting position. He was first on the track, ahead of teammate Lando Norris, and thus the only driver without a chance for a slipstream. However, he braked too late in the first corner – ruining his lap (“I was already two tenths behind there”), and Norris now had to lead without a slipstream.
In the live broadcast on ServusTV, expert Christian Klien already guessed after the first split time: “No one is improving!” Which turned out not to be entirely true: Russell found a few hundredths, Gasly took pole, Piastri remained third ahead of Leclerc – and Hamilton pushed up to fifth.
Max Verstappen, who was on his own due to the early exit of the second Red Bull in Q3, finished sixth, followed by Antonelli, Franco Colapinto (Alpine), Norris, and Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls). He is frustrated: “Something has been happening on the rear axle all year, whether in Friday practice, qualifying, or the race. Now it happened again in qualifying.”
Nevertheless, Verstappen played the decisive role in the end, as Toto Wolff explains: “Max did it cleverly, braking hard and ruining George’s lap,” says the Mercedes team boss in an interview with ServusTV. “George was then way too close to him over the whole lap, especially at the end in the Parabolica. No downforce left because he was so close, and that cost the pole.”
Although it was “planned” that Antonelli would also run for Russell in the last run, “we were all too close to Max. Max almost stopped at the end. Then Kimi was on him, then George was on Kimi, and in the end the slipstream was not what we hoped for. And above all, George was too close to Max over the rest of the lap.”
On the topic:
Result: Qualifying GP Italy
Starting grid GP Italy
F1 ticker: Paddock live with Ruben Zimmermann
9 PM: F1 live analysis on YouTube/Formel1.de
Why is Piastri facing a possible post-qualifying penalty?
Piastri still has some consequences after qualifying in Monza. The McLaren driver was summoned to the stewards along with Liam Lawson because he allegedly impeded the Red Bull driver in the final phase of Q2. Piastri was on a warm-up lap before the first chicane and initially slowed down to let Verstappen pass. However, he then positioned himself ahead of Lawson and held the New Zealander back while accelerating out of the chicane towards Curva Grande.
Piastri’s third starting position could now be lost: The FIA is investigating a possible rule violation due to alleged obstruction of Lawson in turn 2. Besides Piastri, Lawson and a Red Bull representative were also summoned to the stewards at 17:40 local time. A penalty against the McLaren driver could thus change the second row for the Italian Grand Prix again.
“I came out of the pits, and the speed differences here are huge. I have no idea where Liam came from and need to review it with the team before I say anything,” was Piastri’s first reaction in the FIA press conference.
Q1: Nail-biter for Nico Hülkenberg
Six minutes before the end of Q1, Nico Hülkenberg (Audi) was still in 17th position and thus provisionally not qualified for Q2. In the first run, he had lost 0.759 seconds to his teammate Gabriel Bortoleto. The German’s second lap had to count.
In this lap, he found about half a second and improved to 14th place with a time of 1:23.440 minutes. He was still 0.494 seconds behind Bortoleto but had made it into the top 16.
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The workday was over at that point for Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls), who missed the cut against Carlos Sainz (Williams) by 0.139 seconds; as well as for Alexander Albon (Williams), the two Cadillac drivers, and the two Aston Martin drivers.
Are there any other grid penalties?
No drama for Albon: He will start from the very back of the grid anyway due to a power unit change and was therefore able to pull Sainz into Q2 in his slipstream. In total, three drivers are making a tactical engine change in Monza. Besides Albon, also Antonelli and Lawson.
They were therefore able to focus on providing the best possible slipstream to their respective teammates during the rest of qualifying. Mercedes had already agreed on this before the weekend. An unusual constellation, considering that Antonelli had to support one of his fiercest rivals in the fight for the world championship.
Q2: Nail-biter for Ferrari
Q2 was a dress rehearsal for Mercedes regarding slipstreaming. Antonelli pulled Russell, who was initially actually 0.173 seconds faster. But Antonelli was not satisfied: “My seat is moving.” And: “Can I not drive on my own for once?”
Meanwhile, Verstappen at Red Bull could not get the balance problems from Friday afternoon under control. After his first lap, he was only tenth and grumbled on the radio: “The car broke again on the rear axle. It’s undrivable in corners 2, 4, and 5.” Although he probably did not mean “broke” literally.
At least he initially lined up fifth, and for the second Q2 lap, he temporarily had to serve Lawson to pull the New Zealander into the top 10. Otherwise, Lawson would not be able to help him in Q3. Verstappen pulled Lawson up to the Alboreto curve, then moved aside – but it was not enough: 14th place, 0.305 seconds behind the top-10 cut. At the pits, Lawson complained that he was “left out in the rain.”
At the same time, a surprise was brewing: Already in Q1, the two Alpines had shaken up the world elite, and after the first run, Gasly and Colapinto were again in positions 3 and 8. Equally surprising was that Piastri was leading ahead of Norris at that time.
At the end of Q2, attention turned to the two Ferraris, who had not yet set really safe top-10 times. Leclerc drove on track ahead of Hamilton and provided the slipstream, which was probably the deciding factor: The seven-time world champion improved at the last second from P11 to P10, just one thousandth of a second (!) ahead of Bortoleto.
Hülkenberg wondered why he could no longer extract performance from his Audi after solid practice sessions. He finished 13th, behind Bortoleto and Oliver Bearman (Haas), and ahead of Lawson, Sainz, and Esteban Ocon (Haas).
“Everything here is very, very tight,” Hülkenberg complains in an interview with Sky and explains: “The outlaps with the energy and then with the slipstream … In Q1, I always had the top cars in front of me, who then pulled away a bit. And that makes such a huge difference with the slipstream and top speed. It’s inexplicable. I’ve never experienced it so sensitive. And it’s quite difficult to time everything correctly.”
The fastest time was ultimately set by Antonelli in 1:21.882 minutes (which would have been enough for 3rd place in Q3), ahead of the McLaren duo and Gasly, who was now considered a real dark horse for a surprise. Not for the first time in Monza: He already won the Italian Grand Prix on AlphaTauri in 2020.
Formula 1 Monza schedule: What’s next?
After the F1 sprint in Zandvoort, Monza is again a classic Grand Prix weekend in the traditional format. The race start on Sunday is scheduled for 3:00 PM. The race weekend in Monza will be broadcast on TV on Sky (Germany), ServusTV (Austria), and SRF (Switzerland) (Here is the complete TV overview for Formula 1 in Monza!).
Fans can follow the usual Formula 1 live streams on the YouTube channel of Formel1.de on Saturday and Sunday evenings. With a summary of the events and analyses well beyond the end of the TV broadcasts. Host Kevin Scheuren presents the streams again with editor-in-chief Christian Nimmervoll as expert.
The provisional start time of the live streams on Saturday and Sunday is set for 9:00 PM CEST. (Here is the Formula 1 calendar 2026!)
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