Formula One

Monza erupts as Carlos Sainz puts Ferrari on Italian Grand Prix pole

Andrew Rickert

03 Sep 2023 — 3 min read

Wearing overalls in tribute to Ferrari’s historic Le Mans victory and a day after his birthday, Carlos Sainz sent the tifosi into rapture at Monza after claiming pole for the Italian Grand Prix.

Carlos Sainz thanks fans after qualifying on pole for the Italian Grand Prix. *(Scuderia Ferrari)*

The Spaniard took pole by just over a ten thousands of a second from championship leader Max Verstappen, the drivers converging despite TV graphics showing how each team had optimised for different parts of the track.

There was drama earlier in the session as both drivers came under investigation for exceeding the maximum track time, implemented to prevent queueing around the tight track, but it was cleared just after the final laps with no reason to postpone the celebration of thousands of adoring fans.

“What a Saturday! It’s so special to get pole position here, in front of all the tifosi,” said Sainz.

“I had a very good feeling from the car already on Friday and today we confirmed our pace.”

“Q3 was always on the limit and we all took big risks in the fight for this pole. When I finally crossed the line and I heard the tifosi screaming like crazy and jumping on the grandstands I knew we had it!”

Carlos Sainz celebrates pole position in Monza, *(Scuderia Ferrari)*

With Red Bull optimising their car for race day, it remains to be seen whether Ferrari can take the battle to the season’s dominant force during the grand prix, but that was a concern for another day as Sainz and teammate Charles Leclerc, who qualified third, celebrating on the main straight in front of fans.

“The weekend is not over yet, said Sainz, “we want more, and for that we need to stay focused and prepare well for tomorrow.”

“It’s going to be a challenging race but we’ll give it everything to fight for the win and give the tifosi around the world something to keep cheering us on!”

Zhou Guanyu had a lap time deleted in Q1 for exceeding track limits and dropped to the elimination zone, knocked out alongside Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon, Kevin Magnussen, and Lance Stroll as Verstappen went fastest on the mandated hard tyres.

The championship leader went faster again in Q2 on the medium tyres, following the schedule set by Pirelli under the Alternative Tyre Allocation (ATA) but only narrowly ahead of the Ferraris of Leclerc and Sainz.

Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson were knocked out, denying a Q3 appearance for AlphaTauri at home but a promising session for the Kiwi in his first full F1 weekend after substituting for Daniel Ricciardo after free practice at Zandvoort. Nico Hulkenberg, Valtteri Bottas, and Logan Sargeant joined them in missing the final session of qualifying.

Sain went fastest in the first run of Q3 after Verstappen went off into the gravel at the exit of the Variante della Roggia chicane, with the tension building to a crescendo ahead of the final attempts.

Leclerc ran first and improved on his lap but was bested by Verstappen, with Sainz following over the line to take the top spot for Sunday’s grand prix to the roar of the crowd.

George Russell was fourth ahead of Sergio Perez, with Alex Albon continuing an impressive run for Williams in sixth, Oscar Piastri was seventh, besting teammate Lando Norris behind Lewis Hamilton in ninth, with Fernando Alonso rounding out the top ten.

The Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix is underway at 11pm on Sunday, live and ad-free on Foxtel and Kayo Sports.

Watch every session of the Formula One World Championship on Kayo Sports.

Formula One World Championship - Monza Qualifying