Italian GP Qualifying: Verstappen robs McLaren and Ferrari
F1 NewsSaturday, 06 September 2025 at 20:08
Max Verstappen beat both McLarens and Ferraris in one of the closest qualifying sessions in 2025 and will start the Italian Grand Prix from pole.
Verstappen prevailed in what was one of, if not the closest qualifying session of the 2025 Formula 1 season with less than eighth tenths covering the top ten.
And to make things even better, Verstappen's pole lap of 1:18.792 broke the track record at Monza, making him the fastest ever driver to go around the historic Italian track.
It was a great turnaround for Red Bull Racing and their star driver who had their worst race at Monza back in 2024.
McLaren were fastest coming into qualifying but it was clear they did not enjoy a huge advantage as Oscar Piastri was not on it while Lando Norris did not make his life easy after a mistake early in Q2 which meant he was under pressure trying to make Q3.
In the end, Norris was second fastest behind the Dutchman as Piastri will line up third on the grid, 0.190s off pole time.
McLaren have opted for a higher downforce setup which may be good in terms of tyre wear in the race, but will they have enough straight line speed to pass Verstappen of he keeps his lead at the start?
Then came the Ferrari duo, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton who were only good for fourth and fifth after giving the Tifosi something to cheer about but failed to deliver in the end.
Hamilton will drop five positions, serving his penalty from the Dutch Grand Prix, and it was strange why Ferrari did not ask him to give Leclerc a tow.
George Russell and Kimi Antonelli were sixth and seventh for Mercedes and were followed by Gabriel Bortoleto in eighth after another impressive job from the Brazilian rookie.
Fernando Alonso was ninth as Yuki Tsunoda was tenth.
It was a frustrating session for Williams as Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon qualified 13th and 14th after showing promising pace in practice but both drivers lamented their inability to turn on the Soft tyres.
The same applied to Isack Hadjar who got a hard reality check after his podium in the Netherlands last weekend. He was out in Q1.
What the top three said
After taking his 45th F1 career pole, Verstappen said: "Around here with the low downforce it's very difficult to nail the lap. Under braking it's easy to make mistakes.
"Q3 felt good, happy with the laps and to be on pole here is fantastic. The car has been working well here the whole weekend and to be able to fight for pole I'm very happy.
"We were still lacking a tiny amount (going into qualifying)," he pointed out. "We made some final changes which allowed me to push a bit more which is exactly what you need in qualifying. For us it's a great moment.
"Historically this season the race has always been more complicated for us but we'll give it everything we have. That's all we can do and we will see what happens," Verstappen concluded.
"Max has been quick all weekend and it's never a surprise with Max," Norris said when asked about being beaten to pole by Verstappen.
"It was quite a session for me, just up and down and too many mistakes here and there. To put it all together on the last lap was pretty happy so happy with P2.
"I always give my result based on how I drove on the day. I feel like I didn't do the best of jobs but P2 I'm still happy with. Good things and bad things.
"P2 is not a bad position to be off the line," the McLaren driver pointed out. "I want to be ahead of everyone. A good position for tomorrow and excited for the race.
"Sunday race pace is normally our strength but to get past Max I'm sure will be a challenge. I don't expect any magical things and we have some Ferraris behind who I'm sure will want to come through as quickly as possible," Norris concluded.
Piastri, the 2025 F1 Drivers' Championship leader responded "Nothing major" when asked if something went wrong after finishing third.
He explained: "Turn one was a little bit average but the rest of the lap all felt pretty tidy. I felt like I executed a pretty good session, built up a little bit at the start, found my feet but I think it has been incredibly tight this weekend.
"Max and Red Bull looked quick this weekend, I mean to be honest a lot of teams looked quick, it's not been quite as comfortable for us.
"The result is not a big surprise, but obviously we would have loved to have been a little bit further up," the Aussie concluded.
Q1: Hadjar goes from hero to zero
Qualifying started with track temperatures at 44 degrees Celsius while air temperature was 26 degrees as conditions were clear and dry.
Car lined up in the pitlane waiting for the green light at its exit with no one wasting any time in the garages. Hamilton was the last to go out.
All the drivers went out on Soft tyres but Russell and Antonelli chose the Mediums for their first runs in Q1.
Nico Hulkenberg went fastest early on with Russell second and Bortoleto third, but then the teams started their runs as Leclerc went to the top with Hamilton second.
Sainz had his lap time deleted for exceeding track limits at Lesmo 2 and then came Verstappen and posted the second fastest time as Norris and Piastri followed. Verstappen soon asked his team to check the floor.
Norris went fastest and then Piastri went second fastest, one tenth behind his teammate.
Some drivers returned back to the pits for a second set of tyres early as Russell and Antonelli remained out banging in the laps on the Medium tyres as the timing screens kept changing all the time as the track also kept evolving.
Esteban Ocon was not happy that his team sent him out first as there was no chance for him to catch a tow from anyone else. Leclerc reported that his right mirror was coming lose.
In the end of Q1, Russell led the way into Q2 with a lap time of 1:19.414 which he achieved of Mediums as Verstappen was second fastest, 0.041s slower with Norris third and 0.103s off the pace.
The rest of the top 15 were: Tsunoda - Sainz - Alonso - Bortoleto - Ollie Bearman - Leclerc - Piastri - Antonelli - Hamilton - Hulkenberg - Ocon - Albon.
With the whole grid within eighth tenths of a second, the slightest of margins made a difference and as a result, Hadjar was the first to miss out by 0.080s to Albon. He was 16th and not happy about it after a messy final lap.
Lance Stroll was 0.031s behind Hadjar in 17th and 0.044s clear of Franco Colapinto in 18th as Pierre Gasly was 19th with Liam Lawson down in 20th and 0.865s off the pace.
Q2: A close one for Norris
The start of Q2 was delayed for a bit as the marshals cleared the gravel that was thrown in by the cars onto the track in Q1.
Sainz was the first to start his flying lap with Albon in his wake, both on used Soft tyres. The Spaniard went fastest and then the Thai driver went second fastest.
Albon would've gone faster had it not been for a mistake at the Ascari chicane. Bearman then went fastest with Ocon behind him.
Then Verstappen started his lap and went to the top as Russell followed and went second fastest with Tsunoda third and Antonelli fourth.
Leclerc went third briefly but was dropped to fourth by Bortoleto who was then dropped by Piastri who was third. with Hamilton lining up eighth.
Norris did not post a lap time as his team asked him to box and the replay showed him making a mistake at the first chicane aborting the lap. He was probably called back in for refueling. He was soon back out on new Softs.
Order after the first runs: Verstappen - Russell - Piastri - Bortoleto - Leclerc - Tsunoda - Antonelli - Hamilton - Sainz - Bearman.
In the drop zone: Alonso - Ocon - Albon - Hulkenberg - Norris.
Norris was the first to rejoin the track with the pressure piling on him to post a lap and went on to post the seventh fastest time as others started their second run. The Briton was at risk but went for another lap.
In the end Verstappen was the fastest driver in Q2 with a 1:19.140, one tenth clear of Antonelli in second with Piastri in third.
Russell was fourth as Norris after another attempt was fifth in the last moment as Leclerc was sixth with Bortoleto a superb seventh.
Alonso, Hamilton, and Tsunoda completed the top ten.
The first to lose out on Q3 was Bearman who was beaten by Tsunoda by 0.013s as Hulkenberg was 12th in the Sauber.
Both Williams were out after so much promise as Sainz was 13th with Albon in 14th as Ocon was 15th.
Q3: A new track record
Without any delays, the final shootout of qualifying was underway and drivers did not waste any time getting out on track.
Norris went fastest but then Piastri went even faster as Russell went second only for Leclerc to go fastest.
Hamilton then went third fastest as Verstappen was finishing his lap and went to the top taking provisional pole with a tow from Tsunoda.
Order after first runs: Verstappen - Leclerc - Piastri - Hamilton - Russell - Bortoleto - Norris - Antonelli - Tsunoda - Alonso.
With less than four minutes remaining form Q3, the drivers went out on track for a final time on Saturday afternoon at Monza.
Tsunoda went out first as both Ferraris and McLarens followed with Verstappen then joining as Russell and took his time.
Russell asked why Mercedes gave him the Soft tyres as he wanted to take the Mediums...
Leclerc went first with Hamilton behind him in the sister car. Leclerc could not improve and neither did Hamilton as Piastri went secon.
Then Norris took the fastest time but not for long as Verstappen once again beat him by 0.077s to take pole position.
Final order: Verstappen - Norris - Piastri - Leclerc - Hamilton - Russell - Antonelli - Bortoleto - Alonso - Tsunoda.
Verstappen did not get a tow the second time. Hamilton will have to serve a five-place grid penalty he picked up from Zandvoort.
Italian GP Qualifying Provisional Classification
loading
Latest News
Loading
