‘It’s been nine years chasing it!’ – Gasly reacts to shock pole position for Italian Grand Prix

Pierre Gasly was suitably delighted after the Alpine driver caused an upset to claim pole position for the first time in his F1 career during Saturday’s Qualifying session at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.

Having impressed throughout the Q1 and Q2 phases, Gasly posted a stunning time of 1m 21.786s on his final Q3 run to jump ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.

That earned the Frenchman a maiden pole to go with the breakthrough victory he achieved around the Temple of Speed with the then-named AlphaTauri team (now Racing Bulls) back in 2020.

Speaking after he jumped out of the car and embraced Alpine team members, Gasly beamed: “It was amazing. It was an incredible Qualifying.

“From the first lap in Q1, I felt very good in the car. I was trying to chip a little bit away every single session and then in the end [in Q3], it felt like a very good lap.

“I’m so happy. It’s been nine years [in F1] trying to chase and get the opportunity to take pole position. I won my first race in Monza, and to get my first pole position on this track… I think is something special around here.”

Asked in his subsequent F1 TV interview where that result came from, Gasly laughed: “I’d like to tell you, but I don’t know! I’m so happy. I’m so pleased for all the guys, for the whole team, for myself.

“To feel these emotions, seeing on the last lap… putting everything out there and being rewarded for it, it’s just very special.

“I’m very grateful for the race car I’ve had today. I felt very confident, very comfortable to absolutely put everything there was out there, and squeeze every hundredth out of it on the last lap. I’m going to enjoy that one!”

Gasly admitted to feeling continuously surprised by his and Alpine’s progression throughout the weekend – which began with him missing FP1 to give reserve driver Paul Aron another run out.

“I didn’t drive in P1, which is never too great, then P2 was not ideal,” he said. “I felt like there was potential in the car, and in P3 I felt again better. I never really had a tow the whole Free Practice.

“Quali already Q1 I was P1, and I was a little surprised, ‘Okay, others are going to turn it up’. Q2 we were still up there, and Q3 run one, I found myself in P3. I was like, ‘I’ve never thought about it, but actually today I might get a shot at it!’”

Alpine’s day was made even better by the recently re-signed Franco Colapinto also making it into Q3 and placing eighth, which will become seventh when Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli takes a grid penalty for a power unit change.

Colapinto took his hat off to Gasly post-session, describing the result as “amazing” for Alpine as they recover from a mid-season slump.

“Q1 I was in the same lap time [as Gasly], and then he kept doing big steps, and my steps were smaller,” explained Colapinto. “Personally, I need to understand and learn from that, how he improved so much session after session, and he was doing big steps.

“I’m happy for the team. It’s an impressive result for the team. It’s amazing to do it here in Monza. Seeing both cars in Q3 is very positive, but even more when one is on pole.”