Ferrari's Carlos Sainz pips Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc to pole in ultra-close Italian GP qualifying

Monza [Italy], September 2 (ANI): Carlos Sainz emerged victorious at the end of a dramatic qualifying hour for the Italian Grand Prix, beating Red Bull's Max Verstappen and teammate Charles Leclerc to claim his first pole position of the season.
After the first Q3 laps, Sainz led the way, but improvements from Verstappen and Leclerc meant the Spaniard needed another gain of his own to take the lead - a 1m 20.294s - giving him the lead by less than a tenth of a second.
Verstappen and Leclerc had to settle for second and third place, with less than a tenth of a second separating the top three, while Mercedes' George Russell edged out Red Bull's Sergio Perez for the 'best of the rest' berth.
There was some concern for Ferrari earlier in the session, as both Sainz and Leclerc came under scrutiny for potentially failing to respect the Race Director's orders about the maximum lap time, but the stewards confirmed there would be no further action just as the pole shootout ended.
Alex Albon finished sixth for Williams, while McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris sandwiched Lewis Hamilton in positions seven to nine, and Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso completed the top ten.
AlphaTauri came close to qualifying in Q3 but had to settle for 11th with Yuki Tsunoda and 12th with Liam Lawson, the latter closing in on his teammate following a strong start to his F1 debut in the Netherlands.
Nico Hulkenberg was the fastest of the Haas drivers on his way to 13th place, with Alfa Romeo's Valtteri Bottas and Williams' Logan Sargeant dropping out in Q2 due to a costly mistake on his penultimate lap.
Zhou Guanyu narrowly missed out on a Q2 spot in the other Alfa Romeo after losing a lap time for exceeding track limits, finishing 16th, while Alpine followed up their podium finish at Zandvoort with a surprise double elimination in the first phase, with Pierre Gasly taking 17th after teammate Esteban Ocon had a wild moment at the Ascari chicane.
The final two slots on the grid for Sunday's race go to Kevin Magnussen's Haas and Lance Stroll's Aston Martin, who suffered the effects of missing FP1 to give backup driver Felipe Drugovich a run in the AMR23 and then missing most of FP2 due to technical troubles.
The 2023 Italian Grand Prix is set to begin on Sunday. (ANI)