Carlos Sainz produced a stunning lap to put Ferrari on pole position for Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix.
The Spaniard emerged victorious in a tight battle between himself, Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen, beating the world champion by just 0.013s at Monza.
Leclerc followed in third as just 0.067s covered the top three.
Q1
Drivers were mandated to the hard compound for Q1 under the Alternate Tyre Allocation with Alex Albon setting the early pace for Williams.
Track limits became an issue with Verstappen and Alonso having their first flying laps deleted for going wide at Lesmo 2.
The Dutchman would go fastest after his second attempt as Perez made it a Red Bull one-two.
Albon jumped up to second in the Williams with his final run with Leclerc in third.
But the two Ferrari’s could be in trouble for exceeding the maximum lap time with the stewards set to investigate after the session.
Oscar Piastri was under pressure after having his penultimate lap deleted for track limits but recovered to finish 11th.
In the knockout zone, Zhou Guanyu just missed out in 16th followed by the Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon.
Kevin Magnussen was 19th and Lance Stroll was slowest after his limited running in practice.
Q2
The medium tyres were used in Q2 with Sainz pipping Verstappen by just 0.044s after the first timed laps.
Lewis Hamilton only managed 12th with his initial run but found enough to make Q3 in sixth for Mercedes.
Verstappen improved to lead the two Ferraris at the top as Albon shone again in fifth.
The two AlphaTauris just missed out in 11th and 12th with Yuki Tsunoda less than two-tenths ahead of Liam Lawson.
Nico Hulkenberg was 13th as Valtteri Bottas and Logan Sargeant completed the top 15.
Q3
Soft tyres emerged in Q3 as the fight for pole position heated up.
Sainz led a Ferrari one-two after the first run with Verstappen third after going wide exiting the Roggia chicane.
It appeared Max might spoil the Ferrari party as he went fastest on his final lap, but Carlos had just enough to reclaim P1 on a 1m20.294s.
Leclerc settled for third with the stewards confirming no further action would be taken for both Ferraris exceeding the maximum permitted lap time in Q1.
George Russell snatched fourth for Mercedes, just ahead of Sergio Perez in fifth.
Albon stormed to sixth for Williams in front of Oscar Piastri in seventh. Hamilton only managed P8 as Lando Norris and Fernando Alonso completed the top 10.
