Pierre Gasly produced a sensational performance to claim his first career pole position in F1 as the Alpine driver stunned the grid's usual frontrunners at the Italian Grand Prix.

A day after losing his podium finish from June's Monaco Grand Prix for a second time after a court ruling, Gasly was unexpectedly a threat at the front throughout qualifying at high-speed Monza. The Frenchman was third on the timesheet heading into the final Q3 runs before saving his best until last to usurp provisional polesitter George Russell to take the coveted top spot with a surging final lap of 1:21.786.

Gasly's first pole in F1, for his 190th race, comes six years after he claimed what stands as his sole career win, also at Monza, which was achieved in similarly unlikely circumstances for Alpha Tauri. It is the first pole position in F1 for the Alpine name and a first for the Renault-owned Enstone team since 2009.

Russell was left to rue a "messy" start to his final lap behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen and he missed out on pole by 0.060s. But the Briton still starts on the front row in second for a race in which championship-leading team-mate Kimi Antonelli will start among the grid's back rows due to engine-change penalties.