Gasly’s pole dream fades to P7

Pierre Gasly shocked the paddock with Alpine’s first pole position, but the race told a different story. The Alpine simply wasn’t in the same league over a race distance as Mercedes, McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari, and Gasly fell to seventh. “We all dreamed after yesterday but it was back to reality today!” he said. “Finishing P7 today, best of the rest, top of the midfield is a really good achievement.” Teammate Franco Colapinto recovered to ninth after a gravel excursion at Turn 6.

Verstappen fights to the podium

Max Verstappen climbed as high as the lead before settling for third, hampered by a lack of straight-line deployment compared to the Mercedes-powered cars. “I tried to battle but we were just too slow on the straight. We just lacked the same deployment, and that basically cost us a lot,” he said. “I had to send it many times around the outside.” The Dutchman did briefly lead during the race and called it “an extremely good end to the weekend.”

Racing Bulls limit the damage

Arvid Lindblad finished eighth and Yuki Tsunoda tenth as Racing Bulls held fifth in the constructors’ fight with Alpine, who sit on 62 points to Racing Bulls’ 75. “On a weekend where Alpine have brought something special on the straights, to be able to split them is very good,” Lindblad said. “It’s damage limitation for us.” Tsunoda, back at the team as a stand-in for the injured Isack Hadjar, smiled off a grid-slot mix-up: “It’s been a bit of months that I was not racing. Some bit of confusion there. A very, very bad excuse!”

McLaren’s straight-line struggle

McLaren arrived as the team of the moment after consecutive wins for Lando Norris, but Monza exposed weaknesses. Norris finished fourth, Piastri fifth. “This weekend highlighted our weaknesses — we’re lacking in general performance, especially in Qualifying, and our straight-line speed is a disadvantage,” Norris said. Team boss Andrea Stella pointed to Malaysia, Austin and Brazil as better tracks, with upgrades coming for Baku, and noted the team let its drivers race freely.

Elsewhere, Liam Lawson stood in for Isack Hadjar at Red Bull and finished 14th after contact with Nico Hulkenberg; Carlos Sainz was 13th for Williams ahead of Alex Albon; Gabriel Bortoleto (11th) and Nico Hulkenberg (12th) just missed points for Audi; Oliver Bearman (15th) and Esteban Ocon (16th) struggled for Haas; Sergio Perez (18th) and Valtteri Bottas (19th) for Cadillac; and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll both retired.