Overview
- Pierre Gasly put Alpine on pole in qualifying on Saturday by a hair, edging Mercedes' George Russell and delivering Alpine its first Monza pole in 16 years.
- Oscar Piastri was given a three-place grid penalty for impeding Liam Lawson, which promoted Charles Leclerc to third and Lewis Hamilton to fourth on the revised grid.
- Kimi Antonelli will start from 20th after changing his power unit, forcing the championship leader to attempt a long race comeback from the back.
- Ferrari revealed a battery problem in Q2 that nearly knocked both cars out of qualifying, a technical issue the team principal Frédéric Vasseur confirmed.
- Tensions flared off track with Toto Wolff publicly criticising Max Verstappen's Q3 behaviour, while Monza's high-speed layout, big crowds and many VIPs set the stage for an overtaking-heavy, unpredictable race.