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Lando Norris on pole position in Italian GP with Max Verstappen in seventh

Norris excels to get pole for Italian GP as Verstappen has a disaster in P7

31 August at 16:05
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  • Matt Gretton
  • Editor-in-Chief

Lando Norris has qualified on pole position as he continues to make a pursuit on Max Verstappen. This time, it's even better news for the McLaren driver as his teammate Oscar Piastri, both Mercedes drivers and both Ferrari drivers separate himself and the Dutchman. Norris will start from P1, with Verstappen down in P7. The Brit will be able to count on his teammate who got second. George Russell rounded out the top three.

After the first run in Q3, McLaren drivers sat at the top of the timesheet, followed by both Mercedes, both Ferrari and both Red Bull. Perez managed to do a quicker lap than Verstappen, who claimed he had "no grip" at all on the new set of tyres. Red Bull Racing decided to get out of garage first for the second run in Q3. Verstappen managed to move ahead of Perez, but could only go as high as 7th.

Norris improved on his time the second time around, and Piastri couldn't beat it. 

In his first Formula 1 qualifying session, Colapinto secured 18th place. The rookie replaced Logan Sargeant at Williams and will remain in the seat alongside Alex Albon for the rest of the F1 season. He will take part in his first Grand Prix tomorrow [Sunday].

Q1

Lance Stroll may have got away without taking a penalty from an incident in FP3, but he couldn't escape Q1. A few cars went over the gravel, including Kevin Magnussen and Franco Colapinto. McLaren released Oscar Piastri into the path of Max Verstappen and looked set to take a fine. At the end of the session, Verstappen backed out of a lap, keeping his pace a mystery. All of the big names made it safely through.

OUT - P20 Zhou, P19 Bottas, P18 Colapinto, P17 Stroll, P16 Tsunoda

Q2

The start of Q2 was delayed slightly as some gravel needed sweeping off the circuit. Leclerc only managed to be in P7 at the halfway stage, leaving the Ferrari engineers a little bit worried. Leclerc reported some turning problems over the radio. Sainz was closer to the top, but it was Hamilton and Norris leading the way. Both Alpine drivers were in the drop zone with Alonso, Magnussen and Ricciardo.

Norris and Sainz opted to remain in the garage as the others wanted to cover any late charge, but it didn't come.

OUT - P15 Ocon, P14 Gasly, P13 Magnussen, P12 Ricciardo, P11 Alonso