Lando Norris took pole position from team-mate Oscar Piastri in a McLaren one-two in Qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix, as championship leader Max Verstappen could only manage seventh.
Norris had two laps that were good enough for pole in Q3 and beat Piastri by one-tenth as Russell couldn’t stop McLaren from locking out the front row.
Verstappen had a difficult Q3 as his car visibly struggled for grip and will start Sunday’s race at Monza – live on Sky Sports F1 at 2pm – down in seventh but could see his 70-point advantage over Norris reduced by a significant margin if he is unable to make progress.
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were fourth and fifth for Ferrari at the team’s home event, with Lewis Hamilton in sixth.
Sergio Perez was narrowly behind Red Bull team-mate Verstappen in eighth as Williams’ Alex Albon and Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg completed the top 10.
“Another pole is amazing. To have first and second when the field has been so tight is surprising,” said Norris, who secured his fifth career F1 pole position.
“It hurts me to say it but my lap wasn’t great but I am very, very happy. I am not expecting an easy race – there are some unknown things with the tyres and degradation – but I am looking forward to it.”
Norris lays down another statement
A four-team fight for pole was expected after three tight practice sessions at a sunny Monza ahead of qualifying.
Norris topped Q1 but Hamilton was fastest in Q2 and Verstappen looked competitive too before Q3.
Six days on from his dominant victory at Zandvoort, Norris delivered when it mattered most again as he did a 1:19.401 then improved that to a 1:19.327 with his second run.
Considering how close things had been in practice, nobody was in the same tenth of Norris’ pole time as Piastri pipped Russell to second by 0.004s.
“Awesome performance from Lando and Oscar. We have given them a fast car and they are getting the job done,” McLaren chief executive Zak Brown told Sky Sports F1.
“We thought we had a shot at pole but it could have been a few cars with how close it is. I think we are going to see an epic battle tomorrow [Sunday].
“Lando has always been a relaxed guy but when you are getting multiple poles, multiple wins, it becomes a bit easier.”
Ferrari hoped their major upgrade for their home event in Italy would vault them to the front but both Leclerc and Sainz didn’t have the pace to challenge Norris, but were less than one tenth from a front row spot.
Leclerc wasn’t happy with the car in the slow-speed chicanes but Ferrari could be an issue for the top three in the race, with both drivers keen to stand on the podium in front of the Tifosi.
Hamilton, who is joining Ferrari from the start of next year, was 0.186s off pole in an extremely close battle behind Norris.
Verstappen’s worst qualifying of the year
Verstappen was expected to be in the fight for pole after a strong Q2 but struggled with his tyres in the final part of Qualifying.
After the first runs in Q3, he was eighth and behind Red Bull team-mate Perez. Things didn’t get better on the last run as Verstappen’s car looked like a handful and he also had a small amount of dirty air from Perez, who ran wide in the middle sector and kicked up some gravel. At one point, he described the balance as “shocking”.
The reigning world champion improved to seventh but the result is his worst in qualifying since last year’s Singapore Grand Prix.
“The car is very difficult to drive and find a good balance. If you have one issue and try to fix that, then there is another issue,” Verstappen told Sky Sports F1.
“It’s not very driveable, let’s put it like that. Q2 was not too bad Q3 felt very bad again – I had a lot of understeer on both tyres.
“I lost a lot of lap time, I couldn’t really push the tyres, so struggling a lot with that for a reason I can’t understand.
“The long runs were not very promising. When you are not balanced, everything becomes difficult in the race.
“The last few races have not been great so we need to turn it around and be competitive.”
Further down, Fernando Alonso was 11th for Aston Martin in front of RB’s Daniel Ricciardo.
Ricciardo’s team-mate Yuki Tsunoda went out in Q1 and was furious with the car’s lack of pace after the team brought upgrades to Monza.
Franco Colapinto qualified in 18th on his F1 debut for Williams, having replaced Logan Sargeant for the rest of the season.
Sky Sports F1’s live Italian GP schedule
Sunday September 1
7:30am: F3 Feature Race
9am: F2 Feature Race
11am: Porsche Supercup
12:30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Italian GP build-up
2pm: The ITALIAN GRAND PRIX
4pm: Chequered Flag: Italian GP reaction
5pm: Ted’s Notebook
Watch the Italian Grand Prix live this Sunday at 2pm on Sky Sports F1. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership, No contract, cancel anytime.