Lando Norris‘s world championship aspirations were dealt a boost after he qualified second for the Italian Grand Prix, with Max Verstappen taking pole position.
Norris, who trails Oscar Piastri by 34 points with nine rounds to go, suffered a scruffy session at the sun-cooked Temple of Speed before pulling out his best lap of the day in the closing moments.
Norris briefly took top spot in Monza only to be relegated by Verstappen, who will start from the front after he edged out the McLaren driver by 0.077 seconds.
Piastri will line up in third, more than a tenth back from Norris, with the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton fourth and fifth respectively.
However, Hamilton will be relegated to 10th as he serves a five-place grid drop for his yellow flag infringement at last weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix.
Norris, quickest in two of the three practice sessions before qualifying, made life hard for himself in Q2 when he was forced to abort his first lap after he locked up under braking for the opening Variante del Rettifilo.
Norris returned to his garage for a new set of tyres, and his next effort was good enough only for 11th with just the top 10 guaranteed of progressing.
A final throw of the dice lifted him to fifth and a collective sigh of relief from the British driver’s allies at the back of the McLaren garage. Hamilton was also on the bubble, sneaking through in ninth.
On to the decisive Q3 and Norris was way back in seventh after his first attempt, half a second down on the pace-setting Verstappen and almost four tenths back from Piastri.
TOP-10 IN ITALIAN GP QUALIFYING
1. Max Verstappen
2. Lando Norris
3. Oscar Piastri
4. Charles Leclerc
5. George Russell
6. Kimi Antonelli
7. Gabriel Bortoleto
8. Fernando Alonso
9. Yuki Tsunoda
10. Lewis Hamilton*
*Hamilton has a five-place grid drop after failing to slow down under yellow flag conditions at the last round in Zandvoort
However, the British driver pulled a lap out of the bag to propel himself up the order and provide him with the hope that he can eat into Piastri’s title lead on Sunday.
Yet the day belonged to Verstappen as the world champion claimed his first pole since the British Grand Prix in July after he improved with his final lap – a track record in Monza of one minute and 18.792 seconds.
George Russell will line up from fifth, promoted a place following Hamilton’s grid sanction, one spot ahead of Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli.
Isack Hadjar was brought back down to earth six days on from claiming his maiden podium when he was eliminated in Q1.
Rookie Hadjar excelled to finish third in Zandvoort last weekend, but Racing Bulls have struggled for speed here with Hadjar failing to make it out of the first phase and finishing only 16th. Team-mate Liam Lawson ended up 20th and last.
