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
XPB Images
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 |
1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:23.397 | |
2 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:23.631 | 0.234 |
3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:23.685 | 0.288 |
4 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:23.703 | 0.306 |
5 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:23.940 | 0.543 |
6 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:24.127 | 0.730 |
7 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:24.626 | 1.229 |
8 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 1:25.054 | 1.657 |
9 | 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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