F1 qualifying LIVE: Charles Leclerc targets pole position at Ferrari’s home race at the Italian Grand Prix

Q1 is underway – 18 minutes to set the fastest time and we will lost the bottom-five drivers! A big moment for Williams’ Nyck de Vries, stepping in for Alex Albon today, in his first qualifying session in F1.

Will give a reminder shortly as to all the grid penalties too, so you can try and keep up – might be a tricky one to follow this afternoon!

The Aston Martin of Lance Stroll is the first car out on track…

Max Verstappen finished fastest in final practice for the Italian Grand Prix. Verstappen, who faces a five-place grid drop for exceeding his number of allocated engine parts, saw off Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by 0.347 seconds. World champion Verstappen is among nine drivers who will be delivered grid sanctions for Sunday’s race at Monza.

His Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez, who finished third in Saturday’s concluding one-hour running before qualifying, and Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz, who was fourth, will also be docked places for changing engine parts.

Sainz has also been summoned to see the stewards after he was involved in an altercation with Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas at the first chicane. Bottas was forced to take evasive action to avoid running into the back of the Ferrari driver.

Lewis Hamilton, who was only 10th, 1.3 seconds adrift of Verstappen, is set to start towards the back on Sunday for taking on his fourth power unit of the season – one more than he is allowed.

Elsewhere, Fernando Alonso finished fifth for Alpine ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and Mercedes’ George Russell. Nyck de Vries, a late call-up for Alex Albon after the Williams driver was ruled out for the rest of the weekend with appendicitis, finished 14th.

A day that started with composed tranquillity as the Formula One paddock marked their respect to Queen Elizabeth II ended with hope and optimism among the Tifosi fanbase, devoted to team Ferrari at Monza’s centenary weekend.

After Charles Leclerc went quickest in first practice for the Scuderia, celebrating their 75th anniversary with flashes of yellow sprinkled over their scarlet red car under the scorching Italian sun, his teammate Carlos Sainz was top of the timesheets in practice two a few hours later.

Hope should spring eternal then for the Ferrari faithful travelling in their thousands to Lombardy this weekend, right? Unfortunately for the second time in two weeks, it’s slightly more complicated than that.

After seven drivers took penalties in Spa-Francorchamps a fortnight ago, six will do so on Sunday because they exceeded power unit and gearbox limits – and Sainz is among those dropping to the back of the grid.

Joining him are Lewis Hamilton and Yuki Tsuonda, while the Red Bull pairing of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez take a five-place and 10-place hit respectively. Valtteri Bottas will also drop 15 places.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz finished ahead of Max Verstappen in practice for the Italian Grand Prix – after Formula One observed a one-minute silence in memory of Her Majesty The Queen.

Ten minutes before the opening action of the weekend in Monza, the grid’s 10 teams – six of which are based in the United Kingdom – gathered in memory of the long-serving monarch who died on Thursday.

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton was flanked by British team-mate George Russell and F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali in the pit lane, all wearing black armbands. FIA president Mohammed ben Suleyman paid his respects alongside Domenicali in front of the silent main grandstand awash with Ferrari red at the Italian team’s home race.

Above them on the podium, a giant black and white image of the Queen was projected. The top three will grace the rostrum on Sunday afternoon, but whether the champagne will be sprayed is still under discussion.

A spontaneous round of applause broke out following the one-minute silence, and another moment of reflection is planned on the grid ahead of Sunday’s Grand Prix.

The chequered flag is waved to signal the end of third practice – with no change at the top!

Max Verstappen goes fastest for Red Bull, followed by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez completing the top-three.

4-10: Sainz, Alonso, Norris, Russell, Tsunoda, Ocon, Hamilton.

More news emerging about penalties: Mick Schumacher becomes the ninth person the grid to take a penalty! He will drop 15 places…

Max Verstappen has gone quicker on the softs, setting a 1:21:252 – Leclerc is 0.347 seconds behind in second this time.

Sergio Perez is third, Carlos Sainz 4th. 5-10: Alonso, Norris, Russell, Ocon, Hamilton, Zhou.

Interestingly, Nyck de Vries is just a place behind his fellow Williams Nicholas Latifi in 13th, with less than a second between them.

Big opportunity for De Vries this weekend, of course.

Kevin Magnussen is another to take a grid penalty – a new internal combustion engine, turbo and MGU-H in the Haas will cost him 15 places in tomorrow’s starting grid.

He becomes the seventh member to take a penalty – and then Esteban Ocon becomes No 8! He takes five places for a new internal combustion engine.

It’s as you were at the top of the timesheet with Verstappen still marginally ahead of Leclerc. Most of the drivers are now in the pits as they prepare for their final runs on soft tyres.

Hamilton is P11 currently with Russell P16. Mick Schumacher is at the bottom having not set a time – and he’s currently out of car. Looks like he might not even get out to seat a lap in this session!

Just 20 minutes left for the teams to finetune their systems ahead of qualifying this afternoon…

We’ve had a third of the running in the final practice before qualifying and it’s Max Verstappen who leads the way, as the majority of the field go out on medium tyres first. But Chares Leclerc is just 0.072 seconds behind in his rapid Ferrari!

Sergio Perez is third with Carlos Sainz sourth – Fernando Alonso is the best non-Red Bull/Ferrari driver so far, in fifth!

The Mercedes of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton suspiciusly slow so far, down in P13 and P14.