Pierre Gasly pulled off a stunning upset under the late afternoon sun at the Temple of Speed, snatching pole position for Alpine in a fiercely contested Q3 session. In a session where two-tenths of a second made all the difference, Gasly nailed a dynamic final lap to beat out Mercedes' George Russell and McLaren's Oscar Piastri. Piastri is under steward investigation for a potential Q2 impediment incident involving Liam Lawson.

The closing minutes of Q3 turned into the classic Monza tactical game, with cars jockeying for position coming out of the Parabolica to pick up an all-important aerodynamic tow down the main straight. Gasly timed his run out of the final corner perfectly, stringing together precise sectors through the Variante del Rettifilo and Ascari chicane to stop the clock at a benchmark 1:21.786.

George Russell came closest to displacing the Alpine, crossing the line just 0.060 seconds adrift to seal a front-row start for Mercedes. Oscar Piastri rounded out the top three for McLaren. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) qualified 7th, but will drop to the back of the grid after Mercedes took a new Power Unit ahead of the session.

Home-crowd favorites Ferrari locked down the third row of the grid. Charles Leclerc led teammate Lewis Hamilton by a mere seven thousandths of a second to line up 4th and 5th. Max Verstappen struggled to find a clean tow on his final attempt, placing his Red Bull 6th on the grid, +0.284s off Gasly's pole mark.

Q2 Eliminations included Gabriel Bortoleto (11th), Oliver Bearman (12th), Nico Hülkenberg (13th), Liam Lawson (14th), Carlos Sainz (15th) and Esteban Ocon (16th). Q1 Eliminations: Yuki Tsunoda (17th), Alexander Albon (18th), Valtteri Bottas (19th), Sergio Pérez (20th), Fernando Alonso (21st) and Lance Stroll (22nd). Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) and Alexander Albon (Williams) were also relegated to the back of the grid due to mechanical changes.

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