Italian Grand Prix Qualifying: Lewis Hamilton claims third Monza pole in a row

Lewis Hamilton will start from pole position for the Italian Grand Prix as he beat his Mercedes Formula 1 teammate Nico Rosberg to the top spot in qualifying at Monza.

The world champion’s best effort in Q3, a 1m21.135s, was 0.478 faster than Rosberg’s own faster lap and means Hamilton joins Juan Manuel Fangio and Ayrton Senna on five poles at Monza, as he claimed his third pole in succession at the 5.793-km circuit.

Hamilton and Rosberg will start the race on the soft Pirelli tyres as Mercedes’ advantage over the opposition meant it could afford to get through Q2 without using the faster supersofts.

One concern for Hamilton is that he locked-up on his first run on the soft tyres in Q2, flat-spotted his right front tyre and then did not subsequently set a faster time when he decided to go out again on another set of softs later in the second segment of the session.

Speaking after the session, Hamilton said: “Obviously very happy today, I was only made aware of that record [matching Fangio and Senna at Monza] as I came into this weekend so of course that was in the back of my mind, but hoping it wouldn’t steer me off course.

“I feel incredibly proud and honoured to be up amongst Senna and Juan Manuel – incredible drivers and I never in a million years thought my name would be mentioned in the same sentence as theirs. So [I’m] very proud of that.

“But today, this weekend, I have a very strong feeling and obviously came with my A-game today and particularly the last lap felt incredible. It’s such a great track; it’s got such a great crowd – a big thank you to all the people who came out.

“But what this team has achieved as race-by-race I continue to say is just phenomenal. We’re so fortunate to be driving for this team and to be representing them and to drive a car as it was today – I got it right in the sweet spot and was able to do an exceptional time with it.”

Behind the Mercedes, Sebastian Vettel beat his Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen to third place on the grid with an improvement on his final run in Q3, despite going wide on the exit of the Parabolica in the process.

Valtteri Bottas will start fifth for Williams, just ahead of the Red Bull pair of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen.

The Force India’s of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg finished eighth and ninth, as Esteban Gutierrez became the first Haas F1 driver ever to make a Q3 appearance and he ultimately rounded out the top ten for the American squad.

Felipe Massa will start his final Italian Grand Prix from 11th place in the second Williams, as Romain Grosjean qualified 12th in the second Haas but will drop five places on the grid for taking a new gearbox after spinning out of FP3.

Fernando Alonso ended up 13th for McLaren, just ahead of Manor’s Pascal Wehrlein and Jenson Button. Carlos Sainz was the sole Toro Rosso to make it through to Q2 but he could only manage P16.

In Q1, Daniil Kvyat finished 17th in the second Toro Rosso, which still represents his best qualifying result at Monza, ahead of the Sauber pair of Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson. As he returned to the pits, Nasr told his team that he reckoned a misfire had cost him “a chunk” of time.

Jolyon Palmer out qualified his teammate Kevin Magnussen, who ran wide on the exit of the Ascari chicane on his final lap, as the Renault duo ended up 20th and 21st, the slowest of the drivers to set a time.

Esteban Ocon stopped in run off area at Turn 1 midway through Q1 and did not complete a flying lap; a day after an electrical problem ended his running early in FP2.

Italian Grand Prix Qualifying results:

1 Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes 1m21.135s

2 Nico Rosberg, Mercedes 1m21.613s +0.478s

3 Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari 1m21.972s +0.837s

4 Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari 1m22.065s +0.930s

5 Valtteri Bottas, Williams 1m22.388s +1.253s

6 Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull 1m22.389s +1.254s

7 Max Verstappen, Red Bull 1m22.411s +1.276s

8 Sergio Perez, Force India 1m22.814s +1.679s

9 Nico Hulkenberg, Force India 1m22.836s +1.701s

10 Esteban Gutierrez, Haas 1m23.184s +2.049s

Q2

11 Felipe Massa, Williams 1m22.967s

12 Romain Grosjean, Haas 1m23.092s *Has grid penalty

13 Fernando Alonso, McLaren 1m23.273s

14 Pascal Wehrlein, Manor 1m23.315s

15 Jenson Button, McLaren 1m23.399s

16 Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso 1m23.496s

Q1

17 Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso 1m23.825s

18 Felipe Nasr, Sauber 1m23.956s

19 Marcus Ericsson, Sauber 1m24.087s

20 Jolyon Palmer, Renault 1m24.230s

21 Kevin Magnussen, Renault 1m24.436s

22 Esteban Ocon, Manor No time set