San Francisco Frontiers - Alpine's Gasly takes shock pole for Italian Grand Prix

The 30-year-old Gasly clocked a best lap in one minute 21.786 seconds to beat hot favourite George Russell of Mercedes by 0.060 seconds with McLaren's Oscar Piastri third, 0.180 adrift.

It was a sensational effort from the popular journeyman racer whose lone Grand Prix victory also came at Monza in 2020. "After nine years of trying to do it, this is something special for me around here," he said.

Gasly's pole was claimed in the final seconds and came barely 24 hours after it was announced that his third-place finish in Monte Carlo had been taken from him by the FIA's International Court of Appeal.

"It's amazing!" he admitted. "Thank you everyone. It was an incredible qualifying and from the first lap I felt good in the car. I was trying to chip away a bit in every session and it felt like a good lap.

"For me, it's been years trying to chase and to get the opportunity to take pole position. To win my first race and to get my first pole at Monza. It's very special."

Gasly is the first French driver to take pole since Jean Alesi at the same track in 1997.

"First, massive congratulations to Pierre," said Russell. "It's an incredible performance. We were actually finishing a game of chess 15 minutes before qualifying and he beat me!

"But I thought 'well at least I'll beat you in qualifying' but he is ahead of me again. Of course, I'm disappointed not to get pole. It was a bit messy... but Pierre and Alpine have been super-fast from Q1."

Piastri said: "The first lap felt quite good and this is a decent result. It's been a while for me so I'll take it."

- Antonelli at back of grid -

Gasly's friend Charles Leclerc was first to congratulate him after finishing fourth for Ferrari ahead of team-mate and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, Red Bull's four-time champion Max Verstappen and championship leader Kimi Antonelli in the second Mercedes.

The young Italian, who is 59 points ahead of Russell and Hamilton, will start Sunday's race from the back of the grid after taking penalties for power unit changes.

Piastri's Alpine team-mate Franco Colapinto qualified eighth ahead of world champion Lando Norris in the second McLaren and Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad.

The session began in scorching sunshine with track temperatures of 56C as Liam Lawson led out in his Red Bull, the New Zealand driver having joined Antonelli and Williams' Alex Albon in taking a grid penalty for power unit changes.

This signalled his role in qualifying would be to assist Verstappen by providing a tow, where possible, and the Dutchman responded with glee as he clocked an early fastest Q1 lap before being topped by Gasly in 1:22.612.

Gasly remained on top while Yuki Tsunoda of Racing Bulls joined Albon, the two Cadillacs and both Aston Martins in taking an early exit.

The Red Bulls were out early for Q2 to practice slipstreaming before Antonelli went out first for Mercedes to punch a hole in the air flow for Russell. It worked perfectly as Russell went top before being displaced by Gasly and then the two McLarens.

That left Piastri on top with three minutes remaining for a final run – a single lap in Ferrari's case as Leclerc led Hamilton out into a crowded strip of high-speed asphalt.

In a tense finale, the Briton squeezed into the top 10 by 0.001 seconds ahead of Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto. Leclerc was ninth.

After their opening Q3 runs, Russell led Piastri, Gasly, Leclerc and Verstappen, the top four separated by only 0.075 seconds before Gasly charged to pole on his final lap.

G.Allen--SFF