What can you do about Max Verstappen when he drives faster than any Formula One speed merchant before him?
You can only fight for second place on the grid, and that is what Lando Norris managed to achieve in qualifying for today’s Italian Grand Prix. It was a toehold the Briton’s wobbling world championship hopes desperately needed.
Behind him, starting third, will be Oscar Piastri, his McLaren team-mate who leads him in the standings by 34 points.
But back to Verstappen, whose first pole this was since Silverstone on July 5, and one achieved by dint of a genius as numinous as any motor racing has known. Here, at the Temple of Speed, he set a record average lap of 164.465mph – 1min 18.792sec over 3.6miles and around 11 corners.
In doing so, he consigned the previous best set by Lewis Hamilton, the would-be hero of the Tifosi, to the history books. Five years ago here, he notched 164.267mph. He was then still top of the hill in a peerless Mercedes.
In his first outing in red at Monza, the 40-year-old was fifth best. There was a welcome respectability to his afternoon in a season of strife, though he will start 10th once his penalty for failing to slow adequately under yellow flags in Holland a week ago is imposed. That is a cruel twist and renders his chances of a sixth win in the sunlit royal park all the harder to imagine. More of him later.
“It is very difficult to nail the lap around here with the low downforce,’ said Verstappen. ‘Under braking it’s easy to make mistakes.
‘Q3 felt good and to be on pole is fantastic. The car has been working well the whole weekend and I’m very happy to be able to fight for pole.
“We were still lacking a tiny amount going into qualifying. We made some final changes that allowed me to push a bit more. For us it’s a great moment.
‘This season the race has always been more complicated for us, but we’ll give it everything we have.’
Verstappen always does. Norris, though, is not reliably enough the best starter, as was highlighted when he took pole here last year yet finished third, beaten by winner Leclerc and Piastri.
‘It was quite a session for me, up and down, and too many mistakes here and there,’ reflected Norris. ‘I had no rhythm. So, I am pretty happy to put it all together on the last lap to get P2 when I didn’t do the best of jobs.
“Sunday’s race pace is normally our strength but to get past Max will be a challenge. I don’t expect any magical things, and we have some Ferraris behind that will want to come through as quickly as possible.’
