Leclerc puts Ferrari on pole position for Italian Grand Prix at Monza

Charles Leclerc will start from pole position after getting the fastest time of the session. Max Verstappen secured second place but will get a five-place grid drop due to a penalty. Carlos Sainz achieved the third fastest time but he will drop to the back due to his own penalty. George Russell will start on the front-row for the second time this season. Both McLaren sit on the second row of the grid. 

A number of drivers were struck down with penalties, similar to the Grand Prix weekend in Belgium just two weeks ago. That included both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez though their punishment isn't as bad as Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton who were both amongst a group starting from the back of the grid. 

Dutchman Nyck de Vries came in as a last-minute replacement for Williams driver Alex Albon who required emergency surgery on his appendix. The former FE champion had a positive session beating Latifi. 

Strangely, Leclerc started the lap ahead of Sainz meaning that the driver without a penalty didn't get the teammate tow at Ferrari the first time around. And unsurprisingly, Sainz finished ahead of Leclerc after the first run. Verstappen only managed to be third fastest. Sainz took the lead for the second run, but they had a McLaren sandwiched between them. 

But despite all of that, Leclerc moved to P1 and became the fastest by two-tenths. Verstappen finished second fastest but will take a five-place penalty. 

Q1

With a nod towards Queen Elizabeth II after her death earlier this week, qualifying got underway with Lance Stroll first to emerge from the pit lane. Leclerc and Sainz set the pace at the front as various drivers including Vettel dipped a tyre in the gravel. 

After the first set of runs, Vettel sat last in 20th. He was joined by his teammate Stroll, Valtteri Bottas and the two Haas drivers. Whilst the track was relatively quiet, Verstappen produced the fastest time so far and beat Ferrari by almost four-tenths. 

In his first Formula 1 qualifying session, De Vries impressed by escaping Q1. Something his teammate Nicholas Latifi failed to do. He was joined by both Aston Martin drivers and both Haas drivers. Though some will get bumped up through penalties further up the grid. 

OUT - 16th Latifi, 17th Vettel, 18th Stroll, 19th Magnussen, 20th Schumacher

Q2

Leclerc was last to escape the drop zone after the first run due to a late hot lap, but the man from Monaco went second on the standings pushing Bottas into the drop zone. Bottas was joined by his teammate Zhou, De Vries, Tsunoda and last year's Monza winner Ricciardo. 

Tsunoda didn't set a time in the session. It marked the end for both Alfa Romeo drivers, De Vries and Ocon. 

OUT - 11th Ocon, 12th Bottas, 13th De Vries, 14th Zhou, 15th Tsunoda