Lewis Hamilton described Ferrari's execution of the final stage of Italian Grand Prix qualifying as "pretty bad" after the home team's hopes of challenging for pole position fell flat at Monza.

Ferrari had been tipped to contend for pole at their home race but never truly appeared in the hunt at any stage of the knockout sessions, with the Scuderia eventually outpaced in Q3 by three Mercedes-powered cars, including Alpine surprise polesitter Pierre Gasly.

Oscar Piastri's later three-place grid penalty means Charles Leclerc and Hamilton will both start on the second row in third and fourth places respectively. The result could be viewed as fortunate given Ferrari's drivers had finished only ninth and 10th quickest in Q2, with Hamilton just avoiding a shock early exit by 0.001s.

Hamilton told Sky Sports F1: "It was definitely very, very tough... Then execution in Q3 was pretty bad. I ended up out in the middle of nowhere with nobody... Q3, run two, it wasn't a terrible lap but the references were all different, and we ultimately didn't maximise." Leclerc described qualifying as "a big struggle" and added: "I don't think pole was possible but one place better was probably doable and we need to target on maximising everything and today we didn't."