How pleasing if the Red Bull express train is to be diverted, however briefly, it should be within the seething cauldron of passion in front of the Ferrari faithful here, rather than to indifference at a soulless, empty enormodrome in the desert.
With the Scuderia’s Carlos Sainz claiming pole for the Italian Grand Prix in dramatic and impossibly tense fashion, the Spaniard will have felt an outpouring of emotion washing over him as he climbed from his car.
For the neutral, that Max Verstappen had been beaten into second on the grid was a welcome diversion from his and Red Bull’s crushing dominance.
Sainz’s pole was clearly only part of the job this weekend and he acknowledged as much. Red Bull remain fearsomely strong in race pace, Verstappen was unequivocal that he expected similar and Sainz conceded a tall order lay in store.
However, that is a worry for Sunday. In this moment Sainz was revelling in the atmosphere of his first pole at Ferrari’s home track. When he crossed the line the tifosi erupted, the roar audible across the track, on their feet in an exultation of exhilaration surely partly informed by the decidedly average season Ferrari have been enduring.
Certainly Sainz felt it. “Watching the crowd, getting out of the car and seeing this, I haven’t stopped getting goosebumps,” he said. “It’s incredible. Everywhere just noise, support, encouragement. It’s the best feeling you can get as a driver and as an athlete.”
It had really been Ferrari’s day with Sainz’s teammate Charles Leclerc claiming third but being Ferrari, it was never quite as straightforward with Sainz producing a monumental lap at the death, with his 1min 20.294sec run pipping Verstappen by one-hundredth of a second and Leclerc by six-hundredths.
The pole had hung in the balance until the final moments. Sainz and Leclerc were under investigation for failing to lap within the designated maximum lap time of 1:41 in Q1. The rule was instigated to prevent drivers being dangerously slow and bunching up. Both drivers faced a grid penalty.
The crowds had been cheering every lap the Ferraris had the edge over Red Bull, blissfully unaware of the potential penalty. Then, as they celebrated with abandon, with some perfectly theatrical timing as Sainz completed his in-lap, the stewards announced there would be no further action against the Ferraris. The pole stood and Ferrari could breathe out and revel in what has been seldom-tasted success this season in the unique atmosphere of their home race.
Sainz said he had not been too concerned, that he had not met the lap-time delta because he had been avoiding impeding others who were on quick laps. After an investigation, the stewards concurred.
Sainz’s triumph ended Verstappen’s run of in effect eight poles in a row, given that he was quickest at Spa but a grid penalty prevented him claiming the top spot. Ending the world champion’s nine-race winning streak is a different challenge, however, but while Sainz was circumspect he was at least determined to give it his all.
“It can happen, nothing is impossible tomorrow,” he said of his chances of a win. “I am going to do everything I can to stay in front of Max but they have been quicker in every race this year so it will not be easy. But something could happen, we could have a particularly good day and get the win.”
Sainz and his team will have to execute to perfection to ensure he has any shot at victory. Ferrari have been left perplexed by the unpredictable, peaky nature of the car but the pole at least suggests they found its window successfully in the unique conditions of Monza, where with its long straights, 77% of the lap taken at full-throttle and a low downforce package, they were formidable indeed. Their challenge is overcoming the excessive tyre wear in race conditions that has left them vulnerable to Red Bull.
The crowd will be behind them come what may, especially given the title fight remains entirely in Verstappen’s hands, leading by 138 points from his teammate, Sergio Pérez, who qualified in fifth.
George Russell managed an impressive fourth for Mercedes but his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, struggled into eighth.
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Alex Albon was sixth for Williams, with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris seventh and ninth for McLaren, and Fernando Alonso in 10th for Aston Martin.
Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson were in 11th and 12th for AlphaTauri, Nico Hülkenberg in 13th for Haas, Valtteri Bottas 14th for Alfa Romeo and Logan Sargeant 15th for Williams.
Guanyu Zhou was in 16th for Alfa Romeo, Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon in 17th and 18 for Alpine. Kevin Magnussen was in 19th for Haas and Lance Stroll in 20th for Aston Martin.
