Ferrari’s Sainz bests Verstappen & teammate Leclerc for coveted pole at Monza in front of delirious tifosi
Only a week out from a disappointing showing at the Dutch Grand Prix, team Ferrari was looking for redemption in front of their rabid fans, the tifosi, at their backyard circuit of the Autodromo Nazionale Monza during Saturday qualifying for Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix. Fast through all three practice sessions, the Scuderia maximized that impetus to take the fight to the usually supreme Red Bull of Max Verstappen at the famed Temple of Speed. Perhaps trimmed out ever so slightly more than the RB19, it was Carlos Sainz who eked out the very best fast lap of the day in Q3, earning his first pole in a year and the team’s third of the 2023 campaign by a razor thin 0.013 seconds over Verstappen. The Spanish veteran also bettered his teammate Charles Leclerc, who managed the third fastest time in Q3. While Sainz will start from the point and the SF-23 appears genuinely quick here at Monza, it remains to be seen if the Prancing Horses have the genuine race pace to go toe-to-toe with Verstappen, whose long run racing form has been nothing short of otherworldly this season. One thing’s for sure come race day: Verstappen will not give up his shot at a record breaking tenth win in a row without a fight.
Mercedes George Russell was the quickest of the rest with a time good enough for fourth on the grid. That was well ahead of his Silver Arrows teammate Lewis Hamilton, who has frankly struggled with his straight line speed all weekend long so far. The second Red Bull of Sergio Perez was also quite a distance away from team leader Verstappen in P5, nearly four-tenths down on the Dutchman’s P2 time. In contrast, Williams’ Alexander Albon continues to over-perform in what has been a breakout season for the young Thai-British driver. With the Williams quite quick & slippery on the straights, Albon hustled his mount all the way up to a P6 starting spot just a little off Perez’s pace. The two McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris struggled somewhat to put a solid lap together under the stresses of quali and were punished as a result, with Piastri only quick enough for P7 and Norris worse than Hamilton in P9. Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin rounded out the top ten on the day with a rather poky performance in P10.
Top 10 qualifiers for the Italian GP:
| POS | DRIVER | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:21.965 | 1:20.991 | 1:20.294 | |
| 2 | 1:21.573 | 1:20.937 | 1:20.307 | |
| 3 | 1:21.788 | 1:20.977 | 1:20.361 | |
| 4 | 1:22.148 | 1:21.382 | 1:20.671 | |
| 5 | 1:21.911 | 1:21.240 | 1:20.688 | |
| 6 | 1:21.661 | 1:21.272 | 1:20.760 | |
| 7 | 1:22.106 | 1:21.527 | 1:20.785 | |
| 8 | 1:21.977 | 1:21.369 | 1:20.820 | |
| 9 | 1:21.995 | 1:21.581 | 1:20.979 | |
| 10 | 1:22.043 | 1:21.543 | 1:21.417 |
Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.
Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 9AM Eastern here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out if Sainz and Ferrari’s qualifying pace was a one lap mirage or if he can truly hold off Verstappen to send the tifosi home in ecstasy!