'A great moment' – Verstappen reacts to 'fantastic' Italian Grand Prix pole

Max Verstappen believes his record-breaking pole position lap was "a great moment" with the Red Bull driver set to lead the field away in Sunday's Italian Grand Prix.

The Dutchman sat top of the times after the first flying laps in the final part of Qualifying on Saturday, and having been shuffled down the order by Lando Norris' final effort, he once again asserted himself as fastest with a 1m 18.792s.

The lap, at an average speed of 164.46mph, proved to be a new lap record around the Monza Circuit and marked Verstappen's fifth pole position of the season.

"I think around here with the low downforce, it’s always very difficult to nail the lap – under braking it’s easy to make mistakes also, but Q3 felt good," said Verstappen.

"Happy with the laps, and of course to be on pole here for us is fantastic. The car’s been working a lot better the whole weekend, and to be able to fight for pole, I’m very happy with that.

"It was tight. We were still lacking a tiny amount, made some final changes which I think allowed me to push a bit more, and that’s exactly what you need in Qualifying, so for us it’s a great moment."

Despite starting on pole at several races this season, Verstappen's last victory from the front came back in April at the Japanese Grand Prix and he believes it will be a challenge to hold off Norris and McLaren team mate Oscar Piastri.

"Let’s see. Historically this season the race has always been a bit more complicated for us, but we’re going to give it everything we have," he said.

"I think that’s the only thing that we can do, and then we’ll see what happens tomorrow."

Team mate Yuki Tsunoda enjoyed an encouraging Qualifying at Monza, reaching Q3 for only the second time in 10 races.

The Japanese driver will start 10th for the race and believed leading the pack for the final set of runs proved to be a disadvantage.

"In Q3 I wasn't able to have a slipstream," he said after the session. "Traditionally this kind of track you want to have a bit of slipstream.

"I had to lead the pack in Q3, which is the opposite to what I want but in the end, overall, happy with the performance. Being in Q3 was the thing I wanted for long time. Overall happy with it."