Max Verstappen reacts to securing pole position for F1 Italian GP by beating the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri

Max Verstappen was happy to secure another pole position for Red Bull at the F1 Italian GP as the driver beat both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to pole position. The qualifying session was intense from start to finish, as even in Q1, we had the top 15 drivers separated by less than half a second.

The gap between all the drivers was minimal, and this is precisely what led to a demand for perfection. That perfection came from Max Verstappen, who peaked in Q3 and did so brilliantly.

The driver nailed his first lap in Q3, which put him on pole by less than a tenth. At the same time, though, McLaren's Lando Norris had been unable to put together a proper lap in Q3, which meant that the driver's potential was still a question mark.

It came down to the last-lap shootout between multiple drivers. Lando Norris brought the benchmark down with his final lap when he beat Max Verstappen's benchmark. Fortunately for the Dutch driver, he was right behind him and took over once again with a lap that was 0.77 seconds faster.

Talking to Nico Rosberg afterwards, Max Verstappen revealed that he made some final changes with the team on the car, which made him even more comfortable in the car and helped him nail the final lap. He said,

"Around here with the low downforce it's very difficult to nail the lap. Under braking it's easy to make mistakes. Q3 felt good, happy with the laps and to be on pole here is fantastic. The car has been working well here the whole weekend and to be able to fight for pole I'm very happy."

He added,

"We were still lacking a tiny amount (going into qualifying), we made some final changes which allowed me to push a bit more which is exactly what you need in qualifying. For us it's a great moment. Historically this season the race has always been more complicated for us but we'll give it everything we have. That's all we can do and we will see what happens."

Lando Norris on Max Verstappen's threat in the race

Lando Norris, on his part, was banking on McLaren's race pace in what he deemed as one of the weapons he would try to beat the Dutch driver. Max Verstappen's Red Bull has been notorious when it comes to the races compared to the pace in qualifying, and that's one area the Brit felt he would try to challenge the Dutch driver in. He said,

"Sunday race pace is normally our strength but to get past Max I'm sure will be a challenge. I don't expect any magical things and we have some Ferraris behind who I'm sure will want to come through as quickly as possible."

The battle for the win should feature all of the drivers in the top 6, as Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari, and Mercedes have not been too far from each other in terms of performance at various stages. The start is going to be crucial for sure, but so is strategy, and the driver that nails it might end up having a major edge over the rest of the pack.