Monza proved once again it is a track like no other on the F1 calendar. Sebastian Vettel claimed his fourth pole this season in a qualifying day that saw surprise finishes throughout the field.
Teammate Mark Webber followed qualified a close second to showcase the straightline speed of the Red Bull RB9. Nico Hulkenberg vaulted to the third for tomorrow's race with an excellent drive in his Ferrari-powered Sauber, and will start ahead of the factory Scuderias of Felipe Massa in fourth and Fernando Alonso in fifth.
The biggest surprise of the day came during Q2, when Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton had a close call with the gravel trap coming out of Parabolica into the front straight. The British driver was forced to pit mid-session and rush back on track, but failed to make it into the top ten and was impeded by Force India's Adrian Sutil, putting an end to his four-straight poles. As a result, he starts back in 12th place.
The Lotus duo of Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean had an equally disappointing qualifying in the E21 car, starting in 11th and 13th place. The team originally intended on running a Monza-specific long wheelbase car, but were forced to abandon it after Raikkonen failed to produce results in Friday's practice.
Speaking on his 40th career pole and 50th for Red Bull, Vettel sounded confident ahead of Sunday.
“We didn’t expect to be so strong here, with both cars on the front row,” Vettel said. “It’s due to hard work from everyone in the team working long hours; we’ve had years where we’ve had a good car, but not a car that’s competitive in low down force trim, so in that regard we did our homework. This circuit has been a bit up and down for us, but this year it’s surely been more up so far! The car feels great, but let’s see what we can do tomorrow; we don’t get any points from today.”
Vettel will be looking to extend his championship points lead over Alonso and Hamilton; he leads the trio 197-151-139, respectively. Red Bull also has a commanding lead in the constructors’ championship with 312 points, ahead of Mercedes (235) and Ferrari (218).
The 83rd running of the Italian Grand Prix takes place tomorrow at 7:55 a.m. (EST) on TSN, with a re-broadcast at 11:00 p.m. on TSN2.
QUALIFYING RESULTS
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:24.319 | 1:23.977 | 1:23.755 | 15 |
| 2 | 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:24.923 | 1:24.263 | 1:23.968 | 18 |
| 3 | 11 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:24.776 | 1:24.305 | 1:24.065 | 21 |
| 4 | 4 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:24.950 | 1:24.479 | 1:24.132 | 21 |
| 5 | 3 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:24.661 | 1:24.227 | 1:24.142 | 15 |
| 6 | 9 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:24.527 | 1:24.393 | 1:24.192 | 26 |
| 7 | 19 | Daniel Ricciardo | STR-Ferrari | 1:24.655 | 1:24.290 | 1:24.209 | 24 |
| 8 | 6 | Sergio Perez | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:24.635 | 1:24.592 | 1:24.502 | 17 |
| 9 | 5 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:24.739 | 1:24.563 | 1:24.515 | 21 |
| 10 | 18 | Jean-Eric Vergne | STR-Ferrari | 1:24.630 | 1:24.575 | 1:28.050 | 20 |
| 11 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Lotus-Renault | 1:24.819 | 1:24.610 | 16 | |
| 12 | 10 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:24.589 | 1:24.803 | 14 | |
| 13 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1:24.737 | 1:24.848 | 14 | |
| 14 | 15 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1:25.030 | 1:24.932 | 19 | |
| 15 | 16 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 1:24.905 | 1:25.011 | 19 | |
| 16 | 14 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1:25.009 | 1:25.077 | 18 | |
| 17 | 12 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:25.226 | 13 | ||
| 18 | 17 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Renault | 1:25.291 | 11 | ||
| 19 | 21 | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham-Renault | 1:26.406 | 9 | ||
| 20 | 20 | Charles Pic | Caterham-Renault | 1:26.563 | 10 | ||
| 21 | 22 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia-Cosworth | 1:27.085 | 11 | ||
| 22 | 23 | Max Chilton | Marussia-Cosworth | 1:27.480 | 10 | ||
| Q1 107% Time | 1:30.221 |
