The 30-year-old said: “It was amazing. Thank you to everyone. It was an incredible qualifying. From the first lap in Q1, I felt very good in the car, trying to chip away a bit every single session.

“It felt like a very good lap. It has been nine years trying to chase a pole position and to take my first win here and then my first pole here is amazing.”

Russell, who had been a strong favourite for pole in the light of Antonelli’s penalty, said: “Firstly, massive congrats to Pierre because that’s an incredible performance.

“We were finishing a game of chess 15 minutes before qualifying and he beat me there and I thought, ‘well, I will beat him in qualifying.’ But here we are. I am disappointed not to be on pole but Pierre was very fast from Q1.”

Piastri’s result is a boost for the Australian, after a difficult few races, and it came with a time he set on his first flying lap.

He was leading the pack around, with Norris behind him, at the start of the final runs, not an ideal position given the importance of a tow at Monza, and locked up into the first chicane, going straight on into the run-off area.

“The first lap felt quite good,” the Australian said. “I tried to see if anyone wanted to go in front out of the pit lane but no-one did.

Advertisement

“It was always going to be difficult. I tried to be as late as possible into the first chicane and locked up so that was the session.”

Piastri’s mistake also hampered Norris. Now without a slipstream, he was 0.4secs down at the first sector and bled time through the lap. “Without a slipstream, with our straight-line deficiency, it’s hard to put something good together,” said the Briton.

Ferrari had looked set to be in the mix at the front before qualifying with their new engine that was believed to be worth about 0.1secs per lap.

But the session did not go their way.

Hamilton made it through into the final session by only 0.001secs as Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto just failed to displace him, and let out an expletive over the radio when he saw the narrow escape.

And the red cars were just not fast enough in the final session. Leclerc was fourth on both his runs, while Hamilton, ninth on his first run, improved on his second but ended up 0.007secs behind his team-mate.

“Obviously we got to March and I hadn’t been offered a new contract, which I thought was pretty strange. You start to think are they hedging their bets a little bit, waiting on the tournament in the summer.

“So I did a little bit in the media in March to give the SFA a little shove. We negotiated non-stop from the beginning of April really to the middle of May, just before the Curacao game.

“And I said to them if we don’t agree a new contract before we go to the World Cup then I will say I am leaving the job. They panicked a little bit and gave me the new contract.

“It was like drawing teeth trying to get it over the line. But we got it over the line anyway.

“But I always knew in my head that if we did not get out of the group stage then I would probably leave. The only way I would have stayed on is if they had been three fantastic games and they went against you.”

Scotland beat Haiti 1-0 but lost by the same score to Morocco before a 3-0 loss to Brazil left them waiting for an unlikely series of results to allow them to progress as one of the better third-place sides.

“We had to stay for four or five days [in Charlotte], the longest four or five days ever just sitting and waiting, knowing you are going home because the goal difference was not good enough,” he recalled.

Advertisement

“I knew we needed four points. I got hammered in the media for saying that. Somebody hammered me for saying, ‘nah, that’s us, we are going home’. But I was right.”

Clarke revealed he spoke to several senior players following the Brazil game and sensed that they needed to hear a different voice if they are to make history by reaching the knockout stage at Euro 2028.

Meantime, he spoke to new head coach Sebastien Pocognoli last week to wish him well and believes “even Scotland” cannot fail to qualify given two spots in the finals will be reserved for the best-ranked host who have not qualified as a group winner or runner-up.

For once, the 20,000-odd fans on a packed Arthur Ashe Stadium sat quietly engrossed during points.

The sight of the Williams sisters back on court together at the US Open – possibly for the final time – commanded ultimate respect from a chatty crowd known to let their attention wander.

The siblings changed the face of the sport when they emerged as precocious teenagers in the 1990s, going on to dominate the sport with a combined 30 Grand Slam singles titles and 14 doubles victories as a pair.

Three decades later, the sport remains captivated by them.

Serena, a record 23-time Grand Slam women’s singles champion, coming out of retirement this summer sparked excitement among those who saw them in their prime and those too young to have witnessed it.

Seven-time major winner Venus has never “evolved away” from the sport – the words chosen by her younger sister when she last played in 2022 – but instead continued her career with the help of sporadic wildcards.

While that has proved controversial in some quarters, there were few objections about the sisters being invited to play once again at Flushing Meadows.

Advertisement

Their planned return at Wimbledon was scuppered by the knee injury which Serena suffered in her singles match there – ironically a defeat by 20-year-old Joint – before they finally reunited at the WTA event in Cincinnati.

The comeback ended in a match tie-break defeat by Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk and her American partner Peyton Stearns, with the same fate befalling them in New York.

When the Williams sisters last played on Ashe four years ago, they suffered a straight-set defeat by Czech pair Lucie Hradecka and Linda Noskova in the first round.

It looked like being a similar fate as they meekly surrendered the first set against Chan and Joint, then batted off four break points in the fifth and seventh games of the second set.

But once Serena upped her level to match her impressive sister, they managed to switch the momentum back in their favour and level the match.

An absorbing contest featuring some sensational points saw the Americans fight back again in the decider, only to falter from a commanding lead in the tie-break.

Overall it was a more than credible performance from the veteran pair. Their solid groundstrokes, sharp movement and never-say-die attitude caused problems for their opponents, who deserve huge credit for staying focused in a partisan environment.

Advertisement

“The atmosphere was surreal,” said Joint.

“It was something we’ve never experienced before, and to play against such legends of the game was super special.”