Nine years into his Formula 1 career, in his tenth season on the grid, Pierre Gasly finally did something he had never done before: start a race from the very front of it.
A Shock at the Temple of Speed
Gasly claimed his first career pole position at the Italian Grand Prix, beating pre-session favorite George Russell by just 0.060 seconds around Monza — the circuit nicknamed the "Temple of Speed" for the flat-out nature of its long straights. Oscar Piastri completed the front two rows in third.
It's the same track where Gasly won his first — and until now, only — Grand Prix back in 2020, driving for what was then AlphaTauri, now rebranded as Racing Bulls. Monza, it turns out, keeps handing him firsts.
It's been nine years chasing it!
Pierre Gasly, on his first pole position
The First French Pole Since 1997
The achievement carries weight beyond Gasly's own career. He's the first French driver to take an F1 pole position since Jean Alesi did it at this same Italian Grand Prix in 1997, driving for Benetton — a 29-year gap between French poles that Gasly closed at the exact circuit where it last happened.
Not Without Drama
Gasly's session wasn't the only headline out of Monza qualifying. Lewis Hamilton survived a heavy scare during the session without it ending his own qualifying bid, while Aston Martin's Lance Stroll made history of a different kind — becoming the first driver in F1 to be eliminated in Q1 one hundred times.
For Alpine, a team that has spent much of the season working to close the gap to the sport's front-runners, Gasly's pole is the clearest signal yet that the car has taken a real step forward — with a race start from P1 to prove it.
