Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent in Monza

Image source, Getty Images

Lando Norris led Oscar Piastri to a McLaren one-two in Italian Grand Prix qualifying, with title rival Max Verstappen’s Red Bull in seventh.

Norris' second pole in a row - and fifth of his career - combined with Verstappen's difficult session, was exactly what the Briton needed as he seeks to close the 70-point gap to the Dutchman in the championship.

George Russell took third for Mercedes, ahead of the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz and team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

Red Bull had Sergio Perez sacrifice his final lap to give Verstappen a tow on the run down to Parabolica on his final lap, in a vain attempt to vault up the grid.

But it succeeded only in getting Verstappen ahead of Perez, with the McLarens, Ferraris and Mercedes out of reach on another weekend of struggle for the world champions, who appear to have lost their way with their once-dominant car.

Read the full report here

Image source, Getty Images

If the stars align for McLaren on Sunday, they could overtake Red Bull at the top of the constructors' championship with eight races remaining.

The gap between the two teams is just 30 points.

Title leader Max Verstappen is speaking to Sky Sports and says he is not confident about his prospects from P7 tomorrow with the car struggling so much.

"All the long runs that I did were not really promising," the Dutchman said.

The sun is still glorious here in the UK and in Monza, so we'll bid you farewell now and then set up shop from 13:15 BST on Sunday for build-up to the Italian Grand Prix, which starts at 14:00 BST.

Arrivederci!

Lewis Hamilton, who qualified in sixth place for tomorrow's Italian Grand Prix tells Sky Sports he's "furious" with himself and adds he "could've been on pole" today.

"The team deserve better," the seven-time world champion says.

The team will be back later on with a review of qualifying, but the Italian Grand Prix preview with Jennie Gow, Harry Benjamin and editor-in-chief at Autosport, Rebecca Clancy is available to listen to on BBC Sounds here

Image source, Reuters

George Russell will start on the second row in third in the Mercedes, he said: “It was great, ending up P3 is a little bit better than I expected because it was a really tough session in Q1 and Q2 and fortunately we saved it until the end, not too far behind the McLaren, they are so fast at the moment. We’ve been working so hard to catch them up but I’m super happy with third.”

On the race tomorrow, he added: “It’s going to be a tight battle, everybody is so close out there, it’s so exciting for F1, we’ve all been waiting for this competition and knowing if you do a great job you’ve got a chance of victories.

"I’m pretty pumped for tomorrow, I will get some nice pizza tonight to fuel me up for a bit of extra weight so I’m not too light tomorrow and hopefully we can fight for a good result.”

McLaren's Oscar Piastri, who will start on the front row alongside team-mate Lando Norris: "The first lap in Q3 was quite good; just the second one, not quite enough, which I feel like I've said a few too many times this year.

"A good performance and a really good team effort. I think the field has been incredibly tight this weekend. I think I said in the radio there was no guarantee of a front-row lock-out for us. An amazing effort to be able to pull that off.

On tomorrow's race: "Starting a bit further up the front than last week is definitely a positive for myself. It's definitely a long run down to Turn One, so starting second here is not always the worst thing.

"Let's see what the tyres do tomorrow. It's be a little but different to what we're used to in Monza, could be a pretty exciting race and with such a tight field at the front, I think it will be very tight."

Image source, Reuters

McLaren's Lando Norris, who starts on pole position for the fourth time this season: “Another pole which is amazing, like Oscar [Piastri] said to have both cars first and second when the field has been as tight as it has been all weekend, it’s a little bit of a surprise but it’s a nice one so a big well done to the team, they done an amazing job.

“Honestly my lap, it hurts me to say, but it wasn’t a great lap, my Q3 run one was but run two was a little bit more but we still picked up a pole. A bit of a surprise again but I’m very very happy.”

On what he expects tomorrow: “The same would be lovely but like we’ve seen all weekend it’s so close, there’s a lot of very quick drivers behind me in quick cars so I’m not expecting a very easy race tomorrow.

“Like George said a lot of unknown things going into the race, a lot of degradation, the tyres, the tarmac, a lot of question marks but plenty of excitement I’m sure.

On the first chicane at Monza: “On a qualifying lap it’s always a bit daunting you don’t know how much to push, but it’s a fun one the whole circuit is amazing and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

McLaren CEO Zak Brown is chatting to Sky Sports and the topic of team orders crops up. The American won't be drawn on exactly what the team will do if they find themselves in that situation, but if you were Oscar Piastri and you found yourself ahead of Lando Norris tomorrow, would you obey any commands to move aside and let the Briton overtake?

Lando Norris has completed his first tasks of the weekend by securing back-to-back pole positions for the first time in his career, and starting way ahead of the Red Bull of Max Verstappen, who was 0.695 seconds off the pace of the McLaren.

Image source, Getty Images

11. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)

12. Daniel Ricciardo (RB)

13. Kevin Magnussen (Haas)

14. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)

15. Esteban Ocon (Alpine)

16. Yuki Tsunoda (RB)

17. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)

18. Franco Colapinto (Williams)

19. Valtteri Bottas (Sauber)

20. Zhou Guanyu (Sauber)

Jennie Gow
F1 pit-lane reporter

If you could write the script that would be what Zak Brown would want, a really healthy gap between his two drivers and Max Verstappen.

1. Lando Norris (McLaren) - 1:19.327

2. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.109

3. George Russell (Mercedes) +0.113

4. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.134

5. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) +0.140

6. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) +0.186

7. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.695

8. Sergio Perez (Red Bull) +0.735

9. Alex Albon (Williams) +0.972

10. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) +1.012

Abbi Pulling
F1 Academy championship leader on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

McLaren are making a statement this year, they have to be so happy after that result.

Lando Norris finds more pace in the McLaren and improves his provisional pole time to 1:19.327.

Oscar Piastri stays second, Charles Leclerc goes up to P3 and Carlos Sainz is fourth.

However, Leclerc now shifts down to P4 as George Russell puts his Mercedes ahead of the Ferrari.

Harry Benjamin
BBC F1 Commentator

Verstappen's lap is not coming together for him, he's trying to get tow from Hamilton and Perez.

Max Verstappen is desperate to drag his Red Bull higher than eighth but with yellow sector times across the board, the Dutchman only moves up to P7 above team-mate Sergio Perez.

Abbi Pulling
F1 Academy championship leader on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

The most ideal scenario for the McLarens this weekend is to get as many cars in between them and Verstappen as possible.

Image source, Reuters

The two McLarens and both Ferraris have joined the track together, with Lando Norris ahead of Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz in front of Charles Leclerc.

The provisional pole time by Norris is 1:19.401.

Abbi Pulling
F1 Academy championship leader on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

The Red Bulls just seem to not have anything positive to say on the radio this weekend, they keep struggling with the balance, a lot of understeer, no grip.