Verstappen elated with record-breaking pole

Max Verstappen snatched pole position for the Italian Grand Prix from McLaren with the fastest lap in F1 history.

Both Verstappen and Lando Norris broke the Monza lap record, and it was the Red Bull driver, who squeezed ahead.

The four-time world champion secured his first Italian Grand Prix pole with a 1:18.792, stealing it away from Norris.

Australia’s Oscar Piastri had to settle for third, being the only other driver to record a 1m18s time.

The Ferraris rounded out the top five with Charles Leclerc leading Lewis Hamilton, who will start 10^th due to his grid penalty.

It gave Verstappen a 45^th pole, breaking the Red Bull record previously held by Sebastian Vettel.

But more impressively, it was the fastest lap ever recorded in the 75-year history of F1, with an average speed of 264.68kph, beating Hamilton’s average speed of 264.362kph set at Monza in 2020.

“Honestly, I didn’t even think about that when I crossed the line, but it’s nice,” Verstappen said of the record.

“It didn’t feel too bad. The cars have been fun and also, the new tarmac helps around here, kerbing – like the kerbs opened up a little bit.

“I think the 2020 Mercedes is still quicker if you would put it on the track now, but it’s been good. At some tracks it’s more fun than others.”

Reflecting on the pole, Verstappen was delighted given he qualified seventh at Monza last year.

“It’s always tough around here. Low downforce, easy to make mistakes on the braking or on entries because you have to commit and that’s not always easy,” he said.

“Also, you know, the closing speeds in certain corners to hit the apex perfectly, but I think that final lap was pretty decent.

“To get pole here for us is big. It’s not always been a good track for us, especially last year was quite a bit of a disaster. So, yeah, this year much better and very happy to be first.”

Q1

It was a slow start to Q1 with flying laps not being recorded until the 4-minute mark, where Leclerc set the early benchmark with a 1:19.801. This was just a tenth clear of Hamilton and Hulkenberg.

The McLarens did not hit the track until the eight-minute mark and the papaya cars went straight to the top two, with Norris showing his speed, lowering the marker by two tenths.

Williams did not enjoy a great start as Sainz suffered the setback of losing his first time due to limits, while Albon had a big lockup at the first chicane.

At the halfway mark, it was clear no one was safe as Alonso came within 0.047s of the lead and Bortoleto shot into the top five.

Mercedes was the only team to roll out on Mediums due to a shortage of Softs, and this did not stop George Russell from going a tenth clear of Norris to lead the session with a 1:19.414.

The Brit rolled the dice and hoped his lap was enough to go through as he watched the rest of the session from the lane.

Unfortunately, the strategy left Antonelli on the edge as he could only manage 17^th with his first lap, but he improved to 11^th in his next attempt.

Albon was the only member of the bottom five to improve and secure a Q2 berth, leaving the likes of Hadjar, Stroll, Colapinto, Gasly and Lawson out with the Kiwi hurt by track limits.

Q2

Williams opened the batting in Q2, and Albon suffered an early blow, losing a second when he got crossed up at Ascari.

However, with the teammates only being in the 1m20s’ window, it was an easy hurdle to clear for Verstappen.

The Red Bull driver made his first statement by firing a 1:19.140, which proved too good for Russell and Piastri, who were a tenth adrift.

Norris denied himself the chance to post an early lap by locking up and cutting the opening chicane.

This meant the #4 ran out of sync, and his first attempt was only good enough for seventh, leaving him vulnerable.

Having slid to 11^th Norris started his final lap with just 12s left in the session, and with the boost of a tow from his teammate, he secured the safety of fifth.

This knocked out fellow Brit Bearman, who was 0.013s short of Tsunoda, plus Hulkenberg, the Williams teammates and Ocon.

Alonso and Bortoleto made late moves to secure tickets to Q3 as Verstappen’s time remained unchallenged, taking the segment ahead of Antonelli and Piastri.

Q3

Having saved a set of Softs during Q1, McLaren had the same amount of rubber to play with as everyone else when the chase for pole began.

Although many thought McLaren would be tough to beat again, Verstappen had other ideas.

Piastri beat Norris in every sector to be a convincing three tenths clear of Norris, who was only good enough for a disappointing seventh.

Cheers reverberated around Monza as Leclerc nailed a 1:19.007 to sneak clear of Piastri.

However, this was not enough to stop Verstappen as a mega final sector saw him find an extra 0.084s.

The four-time champion was the first driver to post the first 1m18s time of the weekend.

This proved to be a high bar when drivers had one last crack at the death.

Ferrari led the cavalry, but neither of the home heroes could improve to ensure they rounded out the top five.

The McLarens were pushing, however, with Piastri posting purple second and third sectors, but fell 0.059s short.

Norris nailed the end of the lap with a tow from his teammate and did enough to snatch pole position.

However, history repeated as Verstappen snatched it back immediately by a meagre 0.077s.

The Red Bull driver improved throughout the lap as a purple final sector got him over the line.

Russell used the Softs against his wishes of running the Mediums and had to settle for sixth ahead of teammate Antonelli, Bortoleto, Alonso and Tsunoda.

Image: Red Bull Content Pool

2025 Italian Grand Prix qualifying results

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Qualifying times			Final grid
				Q1	Q2	Q3
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing–Honda RBPT	1:19.455	1:19.140	1:18.792	1
2	4	Lando Norris	McLaren–Mercedes	1:19.517	1:19.293	1:18.869	2
3	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren–Mercedes	1:19.711	1:19.286	1:18.982	3
4	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:19.689	1:19.310	1:19.007	4
5	44	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	1:19.765	1:19.371	1:19.124	101
6	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1:19.414	1:19.287	1:19.157	5
7	12	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	1:19.747	1:19.245	1:19.200	6
8	5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Kick Sauber–Ferrari	1:19.688	1:19.323	1:19.390	7
9	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin Aramco–Mercedes	1:19.658	1:19.362	1:19.424	8
10	22	Yuki Tsunoda	Red Bull Racing–Honda RBPT	1:19.619	1:19.433	1:19.519	9
11	87	Oliver Bearman	Haas–Ferrari	1:19.688	1:19.446	N/A	11
12	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Kick Sauber–Ferrari	1:19.777	1:19.498	N/A	12
13	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Williams–Mercedes	1:19.644	1:19.528	N/A	13
14	23	Alexander Albon	Williams–Mercedes	1:19.837	1:19.583	N/A	14
15	31	Esteban Ocon	Haas–Ferrari	1:19.816	1:19.707	N/A	15
16	6	Isack Hadjar	Racing Bulls–Honda RBPT	1:19.917	N/A	N/A	PL2
17	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Aramco–Mercedes	1:19.948	N/A	N/A	16
18	43	Franco Colapinto	Alpine–Renault	1:19.992	N/A	N/A	17
19	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine–Renault	1:20.103	N/A	N/A	PL2
20	30	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls–Honda RBPT	1:20.279	N/A	N/A	18

2025 Italian Grand Prix

FP1 – Friday 21.30-22.30

FP2 – Saturday 1.00-2.00

FP3 – Saturday 20.30-21.30

Qualifying – Sunday 0.00-1.00

Grand Prix – Sunday 23.00

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