Pole for Pourchaire after farcical Monza qualifying

In a qualifying mirroring the corresponding session from 2019, Théo Pourchaire timed his push lap to perfection to take his maiden FIA Formula 3 pole position as the battle for track position became almost dangerous.

As expected, everyone was desperate to find a tow on the high speed Monza circuit and as a result, it was a train of thirty F3 cars with no one wanting to lead the pack.

When some drivers backed off on a cool down lap, others came charging up to the back of them on a flying lap and with the slow cars jostling for position (not wanting to lead) those pushing had to slam on the anchors to avoid a monumental collision. It’s no surprise then that the entire session is under investigation by the stewards.

Pourchaire though was by far the quickest driver on track eventually taking pole by four and a half tenths from Lirim Zendeli who kept his good form going after picking up his first F3 win at the Belgian Grand Prix a week ago.

The second ART of Aleksandr Smolyar will line up third as the French team worked well to avoid too much commotion and get a solid run of laps in. Sebastián Fernández couldn’t capitalise however, only managing eleventh.

Liam Lawson was fourth fastest but he caused the only red flag of the session after his team left a radiator fan in his car as he exited for the final laps. The fan subsequently fell off and onto track out of the first chicane and he and his Hitech GP team are being investigated for the incident.

David Beckmann was very vocal in his frustration in not getting a tow on the final run but he made the most of his situation, qualifying fifth ahead of the lead PREMA Frederik Vesti.

Vesti has been the third wheel to his teammates Logan Sargeant and Oscar Piastri as they battle for the title but neither of them will be happy with how they qualified at the team’s home race. Sargeant was only tenth with Piastri down in twelfth.

Jenzer were very quick in practice and they backed up their pace in qualifying as Matteo Nannini ended a season-best seventh and Calan Williams an impressive ninth for the Italian squad.

Between the two of them came Jake Hughes who was one of many annoyed at the traffic jam ahead of him after he had set the absolute best in the first sector before catching the roadblock ahead of him.

In a complete reversal, David Schumacher, who was quickest in the morning’s practice session, qualified thirtieth and last on the grid.