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Qualifying report

Italian GP: Hamilton beats Raikkonen to Monza pole

Lewis Hamilton secured his 11th pole position of the 2015 season, beating Kimi Raikkonen to the top stop in qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix.

Polesitter Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 Team

Polesitter Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 Team

XPB Images

Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull Racing RB11
Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing RB11
Romain Grosjean, Lotus F1 E23
Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF15-T
Valtteri Bottas, Williams FW37
George Lucas, Star Wars Creator
Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull Racing RB11
Sergio Perez, Sahara Force India F1 VJM08
Felipe Massa, Williams FW37
Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing RB11
Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull Racing

It was also Hamilton's seventh pole in a row.

The Mercedes driver did not improve in his final run, but it was not necessary, as his lap of 1:23.397 was enough to keep him over two tenths of a second clear of Raikkonen, who delighted the Tifosi with a front-row start.

Raikkonen had not qualified in the front row since the 2013 Chinese Grand Prix.

Teammate Sebastian Vettel qualified third, as championship contender Nico Rosberg finished down in fourth after having to revert to the Spa engine.

Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas gave Williams fifth and sixth on the grid.

Force India's Sergio Perez will start from seventh position, ahead of the Lotus of Romain Grosjean and his teammate Nico Hulkenberg.

Sauber's Marcus Ericsson qualified in 10th position, but the Swede is under investigation for having impeded Hulkenberg at the start of Q1.

Pastor Maldonado missed Q3 by less than a tenth of a second, finishing in 11th place ahead of Felipe Nasr in the second Sauber.

Carlos Sainz, facing an engine penalty tomorrow, qualified the quickest Toro Rosso in 13th, ahead of the Red Bull of Daniil Kvyat, who will also be penalised.

Daniel Ricciardo finished in 15th place, just making it into Q2 after needing an engine change following his problems in FP3.

The Australian, who will be penalised for his engine changes too, managed just one timed lap, but it was enough to avoid going out in Q1. He did not run at all in Q2.

Both Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso were knocked out in Q1 again, the Briton qualifying ahead of his McLaren teammate in 16th place.

The Honda-powered cars qualified ahead of the Manors of Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi.

Max Verstappen had time for just one untimed lap in Q1 as his Toro Rosso team worked on his car until the end of the first qualifying segment.

The outing did not go well, however, and Verstappen - facing a 35-place grid penalty - lost the engine cover, causing the session to finish a few seconds early.

Pos  Driver   Team  Time  Gap
 Lewis Hamilton  Mercedes 1:23.397  
 Kimi Raikkonen  Ferrari 1:23.631 0.234
 Sebastian Vettel  Ferrari 1:23.685 0.288
 Nico Rosberg  Mercedes 1:23.703 0.306
 Felipe Massa  Williams 1:23.940 0.543
 Valtteri Bottas  Williams 1:24.127 0.730
 Sergio Perez  Force India 1:24.626 1.229
 Romain Grosjean  Lotus 1:25.054 1.657
 Nico Hulkenberg  Force India 1:25.317 1.920
10   Marcus Ericsson  Sauber 1:26.214 2.817
11   Pastor Maldonado  Lotus 1:24.525 1.128
12   Felipe Nasr  Sauber 1:24.898 1.501
13   Will Stevens  Marussia 1:27.731 4.334
14   Roberto Merhi  Marussia 1:27.912 4.515
15   Carlos Sainz  Toro Rosso 1:25.618 2.221
16   Daniil Kvyat  Red Bull 1:25.796 2.399
17   Jenson Button  McLaren 1:26.058 2.661
18   Fernando Alonso  McLaren 1:26.154 2.757
19   Max Verstappen  Toro Rosso   -
20   Daniel Ricciardo  Red Bull   -

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