POLE HAS WON ONLY ONE OF THE LAST SEVEN ITALIAN GRANDS PRIX

Eight of the 10 Monza races held during the 2010s were won from pole position. Since 2020, the pole-sitter has converted just once in seven attempts.

Updated September 6, 2026

Monza is Formula 1’s Temple of Speed, where qualifying position and a clean run into the first chicane should provide a major advantage.

Recent results tell a different story.

From 2010 through 2019, eight of the 10 Italian Grands Prix were won from pole.

Across the seven races held since 2020, only Max Verstappen in 2025 has converted pole position into victory. That is a pole-conversion rate of 14.3%, with six of seven winners starting away from pole.

THE SEVEN WINNING STARTS

2020: Pierre Gasly — P10 → 2021: Daniel Ricciardo — P2 → 2022: Max Verstappen — P7 → 2023: Max Verstappen — P2 → 2024: Charles Leclerc — P4 → 2025: Max Verstappen — P1 → 2026: Kimi Antonelli — P19

The average starting position of those seven winners was P6.4.

Gasly’s 2020 victory followed a disrupted race involving a penalty for pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton and a red flag.

Ricciardo started second in 2021, took the lead from Verstappen at the start and delivered McLaren’s first victory since 2012.

In 2022, Verstappen overcame a power-unit penalty and won from seventh. He started second when he won again in 2023.

Leclerc’s 2024 victory came from fourth after Ferrari committed to a successful one-stop strategy.

Verstappen finally ended the sequence in 2025, becoming the first driver since Leclerc in 2019 to win at Monza from pole.

In 2026, Pierre Gasly started from pole while Antonelli lined up 19th following a power-unit penalty. Antonelli won and Gasly finished seventh, extending the period to six off-pole winners in seven races and moving the average winning grid position from P4.3 to P6.4.

WHAT THE SEVEN-RACE RUN SHOWS

The recent record does not make pole position unimportant. It shows that Monza has been unusually difficult to convert from pole into victory across this specific seven-race period.

Grid penalties, tyre strategy, starts and race interruptions have all influenced the last seven results. Four of those races were won from outside the top three.

The 2025 race remains the only pole-to-win result in the run. Antonelli’s victory from 19th in 2026 immediately added another off-pole winner.

Only one of the seven drivers starting first at Monza from 2020 through 2026 was still first when the chequered flag fell.