Verstappen goes agaisnt the grain with different tyre allocation in Monza

The Dutchman roared back to the front of the grid with a stunning lap record around the 'Temple of Speed' to take pole position for the Italian Grand Prix, his fifth P1 of 2025, making it 45 poles in his career.

Verstappen will see the charging McLarens start behind him, as Lando Norris missed out by seven-hundreths of a second to take P2, with teammate Oscar Piastri rounding out the top three. Charles Leclerc and George Russell will be in P4 and P5, respectively, with a five-place grid penalty for Lewis Hamilton dropping him down to P10 in front of the Tifosi.

Pirelli have confirmed the race sets that will be available for each driver at the Italian Grand Prix, and Max Verstappen will have a different group of tyres to play with compared to the other front-runners.

The four-time world champion looks to have two new sets of the C3 hard tyres at his disposal, with the rest of the leading drivers just having one set of hard tyres for the 53-lap race.

With the extra set of hard tyres for Verstappen, it means he will have one set less of the used C5 soft tyres, with only three sets at his disposal compared to four, which the rest of his rivals will have.

The Mercedes pair of Russell and Kimi Antonelli will also have three sets of used soft tyres as part of their race sets, as both drivers will take a pair of used C4 medium tyres into the Grand Prix with them.

There may be a bit of a difference in race sets for the front-runners, but the strategy for the Italian Grand Prix won't have too much change in it.

Pirelli believes that a one-stop strategy will be the most efficient for all teams and drivers in Monza, with a move from the mediums to the hards being the most effective strategy, having a pit window between lap 22 and lap 28.

Starting on the hard tyres would see an extended first stint, pushing the first pit window to between lap 28 and lap 34, changing onto the medium tyres afterwards. There is also potential use of the soft tyres, but a hugely elongated first stint will be needed to pull that off.