A high speed thriller

It was a very exciting qualifying session with the top four teams getting their respective pairs of drivers into the first eight spots on the Monza grid, in the order, McLaren, Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull, in what was an eight-way fight from start to finish.

Lando Norris came out on top to secure his fifth pole position, the fourth this season and the second in a row after taking the number one slot in Zandvoort a week ago. The McLaren driver's best time was a 1'19"327. He was followed by team-mate Oscar Piastri (1'19"436). This was the Woking team's 160^th pole position and its first front row lockout at the Italian Grand Prix since 2012, on that occasion with Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button. On the second row, we find the Mercedes of George Russell (1'19"440) and the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc (1'19"461). Just two other drivers got under the 1'20" barrier, Carlos Sainz (Ferrari, 1'19"467) and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes, 1'19"513). Behind them, there's a gap of over half a second to the Red Bull pair of Max Verstappen (1'20"022) ahead of Sergio Perez (1'20"062).

The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to Norris by Javier Zanetti, the Vice-president of FC Internazionale Milano and former player and flag bearer for the aforementioned team. The Argentinian's career featured five Italian championships, four Coppa Italia and the same number of Supercoppa Italiana wins, one Champions League title, one UEFA Cup and Clubs World Cup, all playing for Inter, for whom he made a record 858 appearances.

THE DAY ON TRACK

Again in the third free practice session, the C3 was hardly used: only Aston Martin, Racing Bulls and Sauber scrubbed in their available sets (Tsunoda just the one, while Zhou just did an installation lap with a set). It is further confirmation that the hardest of the three compounds Pirelli has brought to Monza is the most suitable for the race.

In qualifying, the Soft dominated proceedings, proving to be the perfect compound for a flying lap at this track, providing maximum performance on the first timed lap. However, some drivers managed to improve even on used sets, but that was more down to track evolution than to the C5's ability to recover performance even on a longer run.

MARIO ISOLA - PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

"A great qualifying session, very closely contested by this season's top four teams with the championship looking more open than ever. McLaren confirmed it has the most versatile car at this point in the season, taking pole at the very tight and twisty Zandvoort, in rather cool conditions and now at the Temple of Speed on a typically hot Italian summer's day.

"In fact, temperatures will play an important role in the race, with conditions tomorrow forecast to be similar to today's and that definitely won't help teams and drivers when it comes to tyre management. Graining could still be a factor, which could open the door to a possible two-stop strategy. That is why, apart from ensuring they have an additional option in the event of a neutralisation, all the drivers, with the exception of Tsunoda, have chosen to keep two sets of Hards for the race. On paper, the very long Monza pit lane usually means that a one-stop is almost obligatory here: so a strategy based on using one set of the C4 and one of the C3, stopping between laps 20 and 26 is the quickest. Although the opposite usage would work for those thinking of running a longer first stint, stopping between laps 26 and 32. This year however, a two-stop cannot be ruled out, running one set of Medium and two of Hard. Honestly, I think everyone will try and run a one-stop, trying to manage the tyres especially in the opening laps of each stint to avoid stressing them too much, while aware they have a Plan B up their sleeve thanks to having two sets of Hard.

"Finally, I'm pleased to report that our simulations prior to qualifying as to the pole position times (1'19"1, in cooler temperatures than were actually experienced) were substantially proved to be correct, even in unusual circumstances, as we had very little data available relating to the track surface as it was completely new."

FORMULA 2

The Sprint Race produced a second win of the season for Englishman Oliver Bearman (Prema Racing) who started from eighth on the grid. He was joined on the podium in second and third places respectively by France's Victor Martins (ART Grand Prix) and Dutchman Joshua Durksen (AIX Racing). Worth noting that Brazil's Gabriel Bortoleto (Invicta Racing) and Norway's Dennis Hauger (MP Motorsport) finished eighth equal, thus picking up a half point each as they could not be split, even with timing to the nearest thousandth of a second as they took the chequered flag.

The Medium is by nature a relatively conservative compound and the new track surface accentuated this characteristic. Degradation and wear was minimal which meant the drivers were able to set their fastest laps in the closing stages of the race. For tomorrow it will therefore be very important to understand how the Supersoft will work and when best to use it.

FORMULA 3

Tim Tramnitz (MP Motorsport) won the Sprint race, having started from pole position. The German crossed the line ahead of Colombian Sebastian Montoya (Campos Racing) who had to fend off the attentions of Mexican Santiago Ramos (Trident) who joined them on the podiumThe Colombian was given a penalty after the race which dropped him to eleventh place. It meant third place thus went to Ireland's Alex Dunne (MP Motorsport).

There was a very closely contested midfield battle between the title contenders, with Luke Browning (Hitech Pulse-Eight) working his way up to sixth, while Leonardo Fornaroli (Trident) and Gabriele Mini (Prema Racing) picked up valuable points in eighth and ninth places respectively. These three, along with Arvid Lindblad (Prema Racing) will fight it out for the championship crown in tomorrow's Feature Race.

The new surface offered better grip and so there was not much graining, but thermal degradation was still significant. Those who managed it most efficiently had the upper hand in the closing stages.