Charles Leclerc captured his fourth pole position of the season amid a farcical end to qualifying for Formula 1’s Italian Grand Prix.
Leclerc clocked a time of 1:19.307 to edge Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas by less than four-hundredths of a second during the first Q3 runs.
After a red flag phase, caused by Kimi Raikkonen crashing at Parabolica, the drivers remained in the garage until the final two minutes of the session.
When the remaining nine appeared on track they all bunched together, trying to get the slipstream, meaning only Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr. crossed the start line in time to set a final lap time.
The final lap is however under investigation by the FIA, with drivers and teams having been warned beforehand not to mess around on the out-lap.
Hamilton qualified second, with Bottas third, the Finn just getting his initial Q3 lap in prior to Raikkonen’s shunt.
Sebastian Vettel was fourth, ahead of Renault pair Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg, as the manufacturer displayed strong pace amid a difficult campaign.
Sainz Jr. was seventh, while Alexander Albon and Lance Stroll failed to set a lap having been caught out by Raikkonen’s crash and the farcical end to Q3.
Antonio Giovinazzi was just 0.002s down on team-mate Raikkonen as he narrowly missed out on a top 10 slot on home turf, while Kevin Magnussen was 12th for Haas.
Neither Toro Rosso driver made it through to Q3 at the squad’s home event, with Daniil Kvyat 13th and Pierre Gasly – already set for the back of the grid – slowest of the Q2 runners.
Lando Norris, also consigned to the rear, split the Toro Rosso drivers.
Haas’ Romain Grosjean suffered an early exit as he fell the wrong side of the cut-off time by less than a tenth of a second.
Sergio Perez suffered a suspected mechanical failure with five minutes remaining in Q1 and parked his Racing Point RP19 at Curva Grande, leaving him 17th.
Williams once again found itself mired as the slowest team, as its high-drag FW42 struggled for pace, with George Russell again comfortably in front of Robert Kubica.
Max Verstappen, already consigned to starting from the rear of the pack due to an engine change, did not set a time owing to a loss of power late in Q1.
Sunday’s 53-lap Italian Grand Prix is scheduled for 15:10 local time.
