Italian Grand Prix: Who takes pole position?

Who will take pole position Saturday at the Temple of Speed?

If Friday’s two practice sessions were any indication, several drivers will be in the mix ahead of the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc topped the timing sheets in FP1, ahead of his Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton, while George Russell led the way in the second hour of practice ahead. Russell edged out Leclerc and Kimi Antonelli, the current Drivers’ Championship leader.

But with Antonelli facing a ten-place grid penalty for a new power unit, he might be relegated to playing the team game on Saturday to give Russell a tow to pole.

We’ll be tracking qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix live on Saturday morning, so check back early and often. And please head to the F1 Community on the brand-new SB Nation app, as we will be chatting in a game thread on the app all morning!

Qualifying gets underway at 10:00 a.m. Eastern.

Italian Grand Prix provisional grid

Here is the provisional starting grid for the Italian Grand Prix, which will be filled in during the qualifying session:

How qualifying unfolded

Here is how the qualifying hour unfolded. All updates are in Eastern time.

Q1

9:58: Approaching the top of the hour, F1 Opening Titles are on my TV, and now I hear Alex Jacques. Gonna be a fun hour.

9:45: A lot of the early chatter on the F1 channel is focused on what teams are going to use a tow in qualifying. Will Antonelli give Russell a tow, since Antonelli is taking a penalty? Will Williams do that with Albon, who is also taking a penalty, to help Sainz at the end of Q1?

What happened in FP3?

George Russell was fastest again in FP3, ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.

Kimi Antonelli finished FP3 in fourth, while Lando Norris rounded out the top five.

Here is the full classification from FP3: