Carlos Sainz sent the Tifosi into rapture at Monza as he took pole position ahead of Max Verstappen by 0.013s, and Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc by 0.067s, in what was a thrilling qualifying session for the Italian Grand Prix.

Sainz has been strong all weekend at the Temple of Speed, with the Spaniard topping two of the three practice sessions ahead of qualifying.

Indeed, he carried that form into the most important hour of the weekend thus far, edging out runaway championship leader Verstappen by an incredibly narrow margin.

Qualifying in Monza had two points of note to keep in mind of before the session began, with the first being the Alternate Tyre Allocation seeing the hard Pirelli compounds used in Q1, the mediums in Q2, and the softs in Q3.

Alongside that, the FIA brought in a maximum lap time of 1:41 around the circuit to try and combat any traffic and sluggish driving that would potentially cause impeding.

Here's what went on in qualifying...

Q1

F1 has a habit of quickly bringing you back down to Earth and that was certainly the case for Pierre Gasly in the Alpine, with his podium at Zandvoort likely feeling a lifetime ago as he found himself only able to go 17th fastest.

To compound the misery for Alpine, his team-mate Esteban Ocon will line-up in P18, ahead of only Kevin Magnussen and Lance Stroll.

Zhou Guanyu, meanwhile, was the other driver to be eliminated, with him set to line-up in P16 tomorrow.

The Ferrari drivers, meanwhile, would both exceed the maximum lap time of 1:41, prompting an investigation after the race - one that was quickly carried out and quashed.

Q2

Into Q2 and frustration for Logan Sargeant in the Williams, who was unable to repeat the feat of last weekend where he made Q3, with him set to line up for tomorrow's race in P15.

Ahead of him, Valtteri Bottas will go from P14 and Nico Hulkenberg will line up in P13.

The other pair to miss out on the top 10, meanwhile, were the AlphaTauri drivers of Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson.

Tsunoda managed to out-qualify his team-mate but Lawson will be really pleased with how close he is to the Japanese driver, with it only his second weekend driving for the team.

Q3

Verstappen dipped a wheel into the gravel on his first run which naturally cost him time, leaving Ferrari to give their fans a huge boost of optimism as Sainz and Leclerc went fastest of all before the second, and all important, set of flying laps.

And, to the delight of the many Ferrari fans packing the stands, Sainz would keep P1 with a brilliant final lap to see off the hard-charging Verstappen, whilst the other Scuderia driver of Leclerc will line up in P3 tomorrow.

Ferrari fans can enjoy their Saturday night here in Italy, then, but know that keeping Verstappen at bay over a full race distance is another question altogether, with Max on the hunt for a record 10th straight win in F1.

Italian Grand Prix qualifying classification

1. Carlos Sainz

2. Max Verstappen

3. Charles Leclerc

4. George Russell

5. Sergio Perez

6. Alex Albon

7. Oscar Piastri

8. Lewis Hamilton

9. Lando Norris

10. Fernando Alonso

11. Yuki Tsunoda

12. Liam Lawson

13. Nico Hulkenberg

14. Valtteri Bottas

15. Logan Sargeant

16. Zhou Guanyu

17. Pierre Gasly

18. Esteban Ocon

19. Kevin Magnussen

20. Lance Stroll