Pierre Gasly pulled off the shock of the 2026 Formula 1 season so far by claiming a stunning maiden pole position at the Italian Grand Prix. The Alpine driver stunned the grid's usual frontrunners at high-speed Monza, beating Mercedes' George Russell by just 0.060 seconds with a final Q3 lap of 1:21.786.
It was a moment of pure redemption for the 30-year-old Frenchman, coming just 24 hours after the FIA's International Court of Appeal confirmed his podium finish from June's Monaco Grand Prix had been revoked for a second time. Gasly responded to the ruling in the most emphatic way possible, delivering the kind of performance that will be remembered long after the 2026 season concludes.
"Let's go. Let's go. I've been waiting for that one!" Gasly screamed over team radio as confirmation of pole triggered scenes of jubilation in the Alpine garage.
The statistics tell a remarkable story. Gasly's first pole came in his 190th Formula 1 race, six years after his sole career victory — also at Monza, in similarly unlikely circumstances for AlphaTauri in 2020. It is the first pole position for the Alpine name and the first for the Renault-owned Enstone team since Fernando Alonso secured one at the same circuit in 2009. Gasly is also the first Frenchman on pole since Jean Alesi for Benetton — one of Alpine's forerunners — at Monza in 1997.
"From the first lap in Q1, I felt very good in the car. I tried to chip away a little bit, every single session, and it felt like a very good lap," Gasly 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."
Mercedes had been expected to dominate qualifying at Monza, and Russell set the pace in the first runs of Q3. But the Briton's warm-up for his final attempt was compromised by Max Verstappen opening the lap ahead of him, and Gasly pounced on the opportunity. Despite failing to set a single best overall sector, improvements across the entire lap proved enough.
"Massive congrats to Pierre. That's an incredible performance," Russell said. "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!"
Oscar Piastri qualified third but received a three-place grid penalty for impeding Red Bull's Liam Lawson in Q2, promoting Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton to the second row in third and fourth. Max Verstappen will start fifth for Red Bull, while championship leader Kimi Antonelli will drop to the back of the grid after taking engine penalties.
It was a disappointing qualifying on home soil for Ferrari, with Leclerc and Hamilton both over two tenths off the pace. McLaren's Lando Norris, the reigning world champion, could only manage ninth — shorn of a tow on his final Q3 lap after a Piastri error at the first chicane in front of him.
Alpine's Franco Colapinto lines up seventh, with Norris promoted to eighth and Racing Bulls' Arvid Lindblad ninth. Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto just missed out in 11th, finishing just 0.001s behind Hamilton at the end of Q2.
Sources
https://www.crash.net/f1/news/1103770/1/pierre-gasly-beats-george-russell-claim-stunning-first-f1-pole-italian-gp
https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/13581632/italian-gp-qualifying-pierre-gasly-claims-shock-first-pole-position-to-beat-george-russell-to-head-of-monza-grid-for-alpine
