Monza put on the most exciting qualifying hour of the season, Red Bull Racing’s Verstappen and Ferrari teammates Sainz and Charles Leclerc closely matched in the battle for pole.
Ferrari had gambled pole position on straight-line performance and was setting unmatchable numbers at the speed trap. Verstappen’s car was better suited to Monza’s sparse 11 corners.
It seemed that the Scuderia had struck the better balance after the first lap. Sainz and Leclerc had formed a provisional Ferrari front-row lockout ahead of Verstappen, but only 0.099 seconds slip the trio, promising a blockbuster conclusion.
There was even less to pick between them when the flag finally fell on the grid-setting hour. Leclerc was first on track, and with a fastest first sector rocketed to top spot. Verstappen followed him over the line with a fastest final sector to put himself back in first place.
But Sainz was last to cross the line, and the in-form Spaniard was flawless in executing his do-or-die final lap. With a purple middle sector thanks to some gutsy dives into the Lesmo curves and Ascari, he pinched his first Italian Grand Prix pole position to invoke mass delirium among the partisan Monza crowd.
“Goosebumps since I crossed the finish line,” Sainz said, barely audible above the cheers. “Watching the crowd and obviously getting out of the car and seeing this, I haven’t stopped the goosebumps. It’s incredible.
“It’s been such an intense qualifying, especially Q1. All three of us went for it - we were very, very on the limit.
“In that last lap I knew I had some lap time to come in Ascari and Parabolica, and I went for it, and it worked well.
“Tomorrow I’m going to give it everything to hold on to that P1. A good start, a good first stint - we’ll see if we can battle Max. Normally in the long runs he’s quicker, but I’m going to give it all.”
But Verstappen was forebodingly unperturbed to have missed pole position, and after a series of practice sessions that underlined his car’s better race pace, he remains today’s favourite.
“I think we made some good improvements compared to yesterday… so I’m happy to be second today,” he said. “Of course tomorrow we’ll try to win the race. Normally we have a quick race car.”
Leclerc, who took pole in Monza last year but faded to second behind Verstappen, said he was aiming to right 2022’s mistakes.
“I obviously wanted to be first, but seeing that Carlos is P1 is great for Ferrari,” he said. “He has done an incredible job all weekend.
“We’ll try to do first and second with Carlos.”
There was a considerable gap between the top three and the other frontrunning teams, with George Russell qualifying fourth and 0.377 seconds off pole. His Mercedes car never looked up for the fight, but he nosed ahead of Sergio Pérez’s Red Bull Racing machine, the Mexican suffering from a disrupted weekend featuring a practice crash and a last-minute engine change before qualifying owing to an oil leak.
Thai driver Alex Albon was a strong sixth in a Williams car super-strong in a straight line. He will start ahead of Oscar Piastri, Lewis Hamilton, Lando Norris and Fernando Alonso on the grid.
AlphaTauri teammates Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson came achingly close to a top-10 berth, Tsunoda missing out by less than 0.02 seconds. But it was rookie Lawson who was more impressive, lapping within just 0.164 seconds of his more experienced teammate in just his first full weekend in the car substituting for the injured Daniel Ricciardo.
Nico Hülkenberg was satisfied to take 13th on the grid for Haas ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas, but Williams driver Logan Sargeant was a disappointed 15th, well off the pace of Q3-bound teammate Albon on a weekend the team expects him to score his maiden F1 points.
Zhou Guanyu will start 16th ahead of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon in a woeful performance for Alpine, while Kevin Magnussen and Lance Stroll will start from the back of the grid, the last-place Aston Martin driver compromised by missing all of Friday practice.