FORMULA One world champion Lewis Hamilton saw off a strong Ferrari challenge at the Italian team’s home Grand Prix to seal his seventh pole position in a row and 11th in 12 races yesterday.
The Mercedes driver – whose team-mate and title rival Nico Rosberg will start fourth after engine problems forced him to revert to using one without the latest updates – now has 49 career poles.
The pole, won in bright sunshine, was the Briton’s fourth at Monza and 23rd in succession for Mercedes, one short of the record set by the Williams team in 1992-93. Kimi Raikkonen joined him on the front row, with Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel qualifying third.
“These guys did a great job, they are very close,” said Hamilton of his Ferrari rivals after taking pole with a lap of one minute 23.397 seconds and two-tenths faster than Raikkonen. Hamilton leads Rosberg by 28 points in the championship.
“My Spa lap was better,” Hamilton added, referring to his Belgian pole of two weeks earlier.
Vettel – who could become the first driver since Stirling Moss in the 1950s to win at Monza with three different teams – hoped Ferrari would have a chance today, but made clear Hamilton was the overwhelming favourite.
“I think it’s a fantastic result, second and third and very close to Lewis,” said the German, who is racing for the first time in Italy in Ferrari red.
“Sorry Lewis, but I wouldn’t mind if you are not on the podium,” he grinned. “You can be, but if we are both ahead of you that would obviously be a dream come true. I think dreaming is allowed but you have to be realistic. It’s going to be a tough race tomorrow and these guys [Mercedes] have some serious pace.”
Raikkonen, the 2007 champion for Ferrari, said it was nice to be back on the front row in front of the tifosi after a long absence.
He said: “We probably surprised ourselves. We expected a strong weekend, knew this place is not our strongest probably but in the end the car turned out to be pretty good in qualifying conditions.
“It’s nice to be here, a home race for us. This was our best qualifying performance this year as a team so we will try and give another good go tomorrow and get a good result for ourselves and our fans.”
The Finn’s performance drew immediate praise from watching Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne. He said: “We saw a different Kimi. I was expecting that Kimi would have relaxed after his contract renewal.”
Vettel, a two-time winner this season, said: “It is a fantastic result, second and third and very close to Lewis. That is the main positive of the day which makes us confident.”
For McLaren it was yet another Saturday to forget in their miserable campaign after Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso were eliminated from the first phase of qualifying. To add insult to injury, Button will serve a five-place grid drop and Alonso 10 places after changes to their Honda engine.
Final positions after qualifying: 1 L Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1min 23.397secs, 2 K Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:23.631, 3 S Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 1:23.685, 4 N Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:23.703, 5 F Massa (Bra) Williams 1:23.940, 6 V Bottas (Fin) Williams 1:24.127, 7 S Perez (Mex) Force India 1:24.626, 8 R Grosjean (Fra) Lotus F1 Team 1:25.054, 9 N Hulkenberg Ger) Force India 1:25.317, 10 M Ericsson (Swe) Sauber-Ferrari 1:26.214, 11 P Maldonado (Ven) Lotus F1 Team 1:24.525, 12 F Nasr (Bra) Sauber-Ferrari 1:24.898, 13 C Sainz (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:25.618, 14 D Kvyat (Rus) Red Bull 1:25.796, 15 D Ricciardo (Aus) Red Bull No Time, 16 J Button (Gbr) McLaren 1:26.058, 17 F Alonso (Spa) McLaren 1:26.154, 18 W Stevens (Gbr) Manor Marussia F1 1:27.731, 19 R Merhi(Spa) Manor Marussia F1 1:27.912, 20 M Verstappen(Ned) Scuderia Toro Rosso No Time.
Note: Alonso has a 10-place grid penalty Button a 5-place grid penalty, Kvyat a 15-place grid penalty, Ricciardo a 25-place grid penalty and Sainz a 10-place grid penalty, all for exceeding the permitted number of power units allowed in a season.
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