Max Verstappen will start on pole position for the 2025 Italian Grand Prix alongside Lando Norris, as Oscar Piastri was pushed onto the second row of the starting grid for the race.

McLaren‘s dominance looked under threat at Monza, with Mercedes and Ferrari also looking to be a match for the championship leaders as each stage of qualifying played out.

But in the final Q3 segment, the papaya cars rebounded to the top, beaten only by Verstappen, who set a lap record to take pole — the fastest lap in F1 history. Norris led his team-mate despite a troubled session where he was at risk of being eliminated before Q3.

Scroll down or click to see how the grid will look when it lines up for the 16th grand prix of the season, which starts at 2pm BST (3pm local time).

Ferrari’s hopes for a pole position were dashed as Charles Leclerc failed to improve on his final flying lap and qualified fourth. Team-mate Lewis Hamilton was just behind, but will start tenth as a result of a grid penalty held over from the last race in Zandvoort.

George Russell also ended the session disappointed. He’d been fastest in Q1 but will start fifth after being fitted with soft tyres for his final run, having asked for mediums.

Even so, he was lass than four-tenths of a second slower than Verstappen’s pole time; the reigning champion put his advantage down to some final tweaks to his Red Bull’s set-up.

“It was tight,” said Verstappen. “We made some final changes which I think allowed me to push a bit more.”

However, he accepted that victory will be tougher still. “Historically this season, the race has been a bit more complicated for us.”

Isack Hadjar was on the podium at the Dutch GP but was out in Q1 after an error-strewn session, where he also complained about being blocked by Carlos Sainz. He qualified 16th but is likely to start last as his car needs a new power unit, resulting in a penalty.

Joining Hadjar in the bottom-five drop zone was team-mate Liam Lawson, as well as both Alpine drivers and Lance Stroll.