A man in yellow beamed in the Reds' territory: when Charles Leclerc climbed onto his car and stretched his arms in the air, the Ferrari fans in the main grandstand roared with enthusiasm.

"Fantastic," Leclerc called into the microphone, "I knew the car had potential, but everything had to fit together." It fit.

And so the Monegasque is in pole position with his Ferrari at the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday (3 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for Formula 1 and on Sky).

Anno Hecker

Responsible editor for sports.

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It's his tenth this season - and the most surprising.

Everything seemed to be heading towards a best time in qualifying for Max Verstappen at the Red Bull.

But the world champion had to admit defeat with a deficit of 0.145 seconds over the approximately 5.793-kilometre lap.

To the delight of the Ferraristi, Spaniard Carlos Sainz finished third fastest in the second Ferrari, behind the Dutchman.

As close as the two Leclercs came, they will have to start far behind him on Sunday.

Due to an engine change, Verstappen falls back to starting position seven beyond the permitted number per season (three), Sainz with a number of other new parts in 18th place. Nine drivers accepted the punishment because they didn't calculate much in the Royal Park anyway or count on a successful race to catch up because of the good chances of overtaking.

And so George Russell in the Mercedes (6th) moves up to the front row, followed by Lando Norris (7th) and Daniel Ricciardo (8th), both in McLarens.

Record world champion Lewis Hamilton fell back to the last row of the grid as fifth in the race on the grid.

Ferrari presented itself in a celebratory mood.

Yellow overalls for the drivers and yellow paintwork on the bonnet are intended to commemorate the construction of the Monza race track 100 years ago.

The history of the track is one of great triumphs and terrible tragedies.

In addition to the fragments of earlier sections with the steep curves to the left and right of the home stretch, the feeling of a cult site of motorsport has remained: Monza is the temple of speed for Formula 1 with its long straights, interrupted by a few chicanes and a few fast corners.

Ferrari terrain for many years.

This season it didn't look like it at first.

At Spa-Francorchamps two weeks ago, on a similar circuit, the Scuderia didn't stand a chance against Red Bull. Verstappen won from 14th on the grid. But at least in straight-line driving, Ferrari pulled away from the competition on Friday and Saturday, with a top speed of 349 kilometers per hour .

In the first and last sector, Leclerc was superior on a brilliantly driven lap.

Who should catch him?

"Our long runs were good," said Verstappen, referring to the approximately 300-kilometer endurance run with a high percentage of full throttle.

The champion relies on a quick leap forward, wants to quickly fill the format in the rear-view mirror of Leclerc's F-75.

That could work.

But in order to get past the Ferrari, he would have to build up a significant excess of speed on the straights before the braking zones.

It didn't look like that.

The race could therefore be decided by strategic moves during the first pit stop, which is usually the only one at Monza.