George Russell has shared how he dismissed the idea of Pierre Gasly beating him in qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix during a friendly game of chess just minutes before the start of the grid-setting session at Monza.
The Alpine driver went on to clinch a surprise pole position against all odds at the Temple of Speed, beating the Briton into second by eight hundredths of a second.
It is the first pole of his career, and the first for a French driver since Jean Alesi's for Benetton at the same circuit 29 years ago.
Also the venue of Gasly's sole grand prix victory in 2020, it is Alpine's first pole since the team rebranded from Renault.
"Firstly, massive congrats to Pierre because that's an incredible performance," the Mercedes driver said after qualifying.
"We were actually finishing a game of chess about 15 minutes before qualifying, and he beat me there.
"And I thought, 'Well, I think I'll beat you in qualifying', and here we are: he's ahead of me again.
"So huge congrats to him. Of course, I was disappointed not to get the pole position. It was a bit messy with Verstappen opening the lap; I did the lap very close.
"But Pierre and Alpine have been super fast even from Q1. So happy to see them get a good result."
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