F1 Italian Grand Prix Qualifying results: Leclerc takes pole amid grid confusion

The Monegasque left it until his last lap of Q3 to seal his second pole at Monza and top qualifying for the eighth time in 2022. 

Leclerc posted a 1m20.161s to edge out runaway championship leader Max Verstappen by 0.145s, but the Red Bull driver will drop five places for using too many engine parts.

• Related: 2022 Italian Grand Prix Live Race Commentary

Leclerc will be the only driver to start where he qualified due to a litany of grid penalties for engine changes, and he will be joined on the front row by Mercedes’ George Russell. 

Russell ended up sixth-fastest behind Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton, but penalties for Verstappen (second), Carlos Sainz (third), Sergio Perez (fourth) and Hamilton will see the Briton move up four places. 

Sainz and Hamilton, who are both carrying back-of-the-grid penalties, will start from 18th and 19th respectively, while Red Bull’s Perez is set to be demoted to 10th.

McLaren pair Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo, who were seventh and eighth in qualifying, are due to line up from third and fourth respectively, ahead of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and Alpine’s Fernando Alonso. 

De Vries impresses on debut 

Nyck de Vries qualified 13th on his F1 debut and outpaced Williams teammate Nicholas Latifi despite only finding out he was driving just before final practice on Saturday morning, when Alex Albon was ruled out with appendicitis. 

The Dutchman, who won the 2020-2021 Formula E title, will start from eighth ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou and Perez as a result of the penalties for drivers ahead of him. 

If this weekend turns out to be an addition for de Vries, who is understood to be in the running for the second Williams seat next season, it couldn’t have got off to a much better start. 

In contrast, Williams regular Nicholas Latifi was eliminated in Q1, though he will start just outside the top-10 in 11th when all the grid penalties are applied.