MONZA, Italy — In an unbelievably tight qualifying session, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri of McLaren went 1-2 to lock down the top two starting spots for Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix.
Norris, who is the polesitter, had a time of 1:19:327 around the 3.6-mile circuit, just a tenth of a second faster than Piastri.
“I’m very happy. Especially for 1-2, it’s even better for us as a team,” said Norris, who said he was more satisfied than last weekend when he won in Zandvoort. “We’ll work together as a team, and what we want is a 1-2 [finish]. We’ll work in our best interest to try to achieve that and keep our heads down and focus on ourselves.”
For Piastri, he’s satisfied all things considered, even though he felt like he left time on the table during Q3.
“The car this weekend has been a bit tricky. It’s looked a little tricky for everyone out there” Piastri said. “We managed to dial it in a bit more for qualifying, and clearly, a front-row lockout is pretty handy.”
George Russell of Mercedes and the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz complete the top five. Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes will start sixth. The top six starters were separated by less than two-tenths in Q3.
Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez will start seventh and eighth, respectively.
“We have this disconnection with the balance,” Perez said. “I had a great run with my scrub tires in Q3, but then I put the new tire on – and everything gets really picky, really difficult … it’s going to be a long race, especially where we are.”
Sunday’s 53-lapper goes green at 9 a.m. ET.