Noel León: ‘We can fight with the pace we have’ after top five in Monza Qualifying

Noel León wound up fourth in what was a tricky and unpredictable Qualifying session around Monza. The Campos Racing driver was in and around the top spots throughout and was happy with P4 at the chequered flag.

León had held provisional pole early on in the session, and despite slipping down the order by the end, was happy to be fighting at the sharp end which leaves him in a strong position going into the remainder of the weekend.

"Quite happy to be honest. We knew it was going to be a chaotic quali, so we tried to secure a good first lap, which we did and it was P2, so quite happy with what we got.

“P4 is a good position for both races. Pace was good throughout the day right from the start of FP so it was a very good day to be honest.”

Diving deeper into his qualifying session, León says he was happy with his pace overall and it was a tricky time managing the traffic.

He says that the team managed well to get him into a strong position going into each of his flying laps, and that it paid off with a top five result that leaves him in contention for points in both the Sprint and Feature Race.

“After the first push I was P1, then we got some traffic, in a bad place at a bad moment. So yeah, quite happy with the overall pace with the car and the team did an amazing job. So now I’m really looking forward to the races.

"It’s always difficult to get the best track position. Then it was very close with other people because they were driving very slow at the end. But I think it is what it is, and we knew this was going to happen, so we tried our best and we ended up top five. Really happy that it played out.”

His strong Monza qualifying follows on from a top three result in Budapest prior to the summer break.

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The Mexican driver says his uptick in form particularly on a single lap has been a big confidence boost heading into the upcoming phase of the season and a busy September.

He will now be looking to maximise his results in what he says will be “chaotic” races given the layout of the Monza circuit and the additional DRS zone added for 2026.

"I feel good to be honest. I know what I need to work on to be better. But still, two very good qualifying sessions back-to-back. Budapest was P3 and now P4. So we're in the mix and we can have a great time. I'm looking forward to the races.

"It's going to be difficult. There is a new DRS zone which means it's going to be difficult to be out of DRS range and it will be important to manage the tyres because it's quite hot and it's going to be an issue. It's going to be chaotic, and we'll try to stay out of trouble.”