Pierre Gasly secured pole position at the Italian Grand Prix qualifying session in Monza on Saturday, marking his first career Formula 1 pole [1, 2, 3]. He set a lap time of 1:21.786 to edge out Mercedes' George Russell by 0.060 seconds, with Russell qualifying second at 1:21.846 [1, 2, 3, 4].

McLaren's Oscar Piastri qualified third, followed by Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in fourth and Lewis Hamilton in fifth [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. Hamilton claimed the final spot in the last qualifying phase by just 0.001 seconds [2, 3, 6]. Defending world champion Lando Norris struggled in qualifying, ending up ninth after a messy session [1, 3]. Championship leader Kimi Antonelli qualified seventh but will start at the back due to a grid penalty for a new engine [1, 2, 3, 6, 4, 5].

Gasly’s Alpine car benefitted from a Mercedes engine and a recent aerodynamic upgrade, boosting its qualifying pace [7, 8]. Gasly, who won the 2020 Italian Grand Prix at Monza with AlphaTauri (now Racing Bulls), expressed special feelings about the track. He said, "It's been nine years trying to chase the opportunity to get a pole. I won my first race in Monza and got my first pole at this track. It's something special around here." [2, 5]

Interestingly, Gasly and Russell played a game of chess about 15 minutes before qualifying, with Gasly winning the match. Russell recalled, "We were finishing a game of chess about 15 minutes before qualifying and he beat me there and I went 'well, I think I will beat you in qualifying' and here we are, he's ahead of me again." Gasly noted, "Since the (drivers') briefing last night, I figured out that he's obsessed with chess. I am obsessed with chess. We have a few in the paddock, a few drivers, obsessed with it." [2, 7, 8]

This pole position is the first for the Renault team since it was rebranded as Alpine in 2021 [6]. However, Piastri will serve a three-place grid penalty for impeding another driver in qualifying [6]. The drivers’ championship standings ahead of the race show Antonelli leading by 59 points over Russell and Hamilton [2, 3, 6].

The Italian Grand Prix race is scheduled for today at Monza, where Gasly will start from pole, aiming to build on his qualifying success.