After being beaten by his teammate all through practice, Lewis Hamilton got it done when it mattered as he claimed pole for the Tuscan Grand Prix.
There was little to choose between the two Mercedes all throughout qualifying at Mugello, but the six-time world champion once again found just enough to claim his 95th career pole.
Q1
Mercedes show an immediate increase of speed into the 1m.15s with Verstappen half a second down in third.
At the back, Monza race winner Pierre Gasly, Lando Norris and Sebastian Vettel all find themselves at risk of elimination after the first runs.
And despite an improvement on his second lap, it was a surprise early bath for Gasly in 16th, just over half a tenth down on Vettel in 15th.
Behind Antonio Giovinazzi, George Russell just maintained his 100% qualifying record despite running wide at Turn 7 on his last run, less than a tenth clear of Nicholas Latifi who was 19th.
Kevin Magnussen wound up slowest overall in the Haas.
Q2
Less than two-tenths covers the top three as Verstappen finds more pace relative to Mercedes.
In the battle to make the top 10, it was McLaren on the cusp as Carlos Sainz just makes it into Q3 at the expense of teammate Lando Norris in 11th.
Daniil Kvyat and Kimi Raikkonen set the exact same time in P12 and P13, but the Russian will start ahead having completed his lap first.
Vettel was only 0.004s behind in 14th in another difficult qualifying for the German, finishing half a second behind Leclerc.
Finally, Romain Grosjean enjoyed a better session making it through to Q2 but could do no better than 15th.
Q3
In the first run, Hamilton would set the initial benchmark of a 1m15.144s, giving him half a tenth advantage over Bottas with Verstappen four-tenths down in third.
And that time would be enough as the Dutchman only improved by a tenth in his second lap, while Bottas would be compromised by Esteban Ocon coming to a stop in his Renault, giving the six-time world champion his seventh pole of 2020 in just nine races.
Behind the top three, Alex Albon secured fourth in the second Red Bull ahead of Charles Leclerc in fifth, as he gave Ferrari something to cheer.
Sergio Perez got great satisfaction as he pipped teammate Lance Stroll into sixth despite having older parts on his Racing Point.
Daniel Ricciardo was eighth and Carlos Sainz ninth, as Ocon rounded out the top 10 in the second Renault.
Full results from qualifying can be seen below:
