Mexican Perez, in solely his second race for Red Bull, traces up alongside Mercedes’ seven-time world champion for what might be his first entrance row begin.
Verstappen, quickest in last follow at the Italian circuit and chasing a hat-trick of poles, had to accept third with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc a robust fourth on a house monitor for the revived Italian crew.
Hamilton did sufficient with his first flying lap of 1 minute 14.411 seconds, however Perez got here shut at the finish with an effort solely 0.035 slower.
“I definitely didn’t expect us to be ahead of two Red Bulls,” mentioned Hamilton, who received the season-opener in Bahrain final month after Verstappen began on pole.
“I think they have been so quick this weekend, there were times when they were six-tenths ahead.
“I got here round the final nook and heard I’d obtained the pole and I used to be tremendous grateful,” added the 36-year-old, who has now taken poles on a document 30 completely different circuits.
Perez, who boasts more than a decade of experience in Formula One, was brought in to put more pressure on Mercedes than Verstappen’s recent team mates had managed and duly delivered.
The Mexican still felt he could have done better.
“I’ve been enhancing, P2, however I ought to’ve been on pole and I did a mistake on the last nook,” said Perez, a first time winner with Racing Point (now Aston Martin) in Bahrain last year.
It was the first time Verstappen had been outqualified by a team mate in regular conditions since Australian Daniel Ricciardo was alongside at Red Bull in 2018.
“You cannot be good each time, so we’ll see what went incorrect,” said the Dutch driver. “It’s nonetheless P3, which is an effective beginning place.”
Bottas disappoints
AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly qualified fifth with Ricciardo sixth for McLaren and team mate Lando Norris seventh.
Norris would have been on the front row had his fastest lap not been deleted for exceeding track limits.
Hamilton’s team mate Valtteri Bottas, on pole at Imola last November and fastest on Friday, qualified a disappointing eighth — leaving Hamilton exposed in Sunday’s race with the Red Bulls also on different tyre strategies.
Hamilton will start on medium tyres, with Perez on softs and Verstappen also on mediums.
“Anything can occur, we’re on a special technique to Lewis and Max,” said Perez. “It goes to be fascinating, see what we are able to do.”
Spaniard Carlos Sainz, in his first race in Italy with Ferrari, failed to make it through to the final shootout and starts 11th.
Both Williams drivers reached the second phase for the first time since last July, with George Russell still sounding disappointed with 12th despite being ahead of former champions Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso.
Four-time champion Vettel will line up 13th for Aston Martin and Alonso, a winner at Imola with Renault in 2005 on his way to the first of two titles, 15th for Alpine.
Japanese rookie Yuki Tsunoda was the big casualty of the first session, losing control at the Variante Alta and smashing his AlphaTauri backwards into the tyre wall.
“For me that was an enormous mistake and I really feel actually sorry for the crew,” he mentioned, with the session red-flagged as the badly broken automobile was faraway from the monitor.
Qualifying was introduced ahead by an hour as a mark of respect to guarantee there was no overlap with the funeral in Windsor of Britain’s Prince Philip, who died final week at the age of 99.
The groups, most of whom are primarily based in England, held a minute’s silence earlier than qualifying.
