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F1 Italy: Lewis Hamilton storms to Monza pole (+results)

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Antoine Cremer
Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) muted all the rumours regarding his future by taking a convincing pole over his teammate Jenson Button, in the team's 63rd front row effort.

Nobody could touch the 2008 World Champion, that much was clear during qualifying ahead of Monza's Italian Grand Prix.

Felipe Massa (Ferrari), third, had his strongest qualifying effort of the campaign yet. The Brazilian was left by star teammate Fernando Alonso to carry the team on his shoulders, as the Spaniard could do no better than 10th – a disastrous result in front of the tifosis.

Massa was followed by Paul di Resta (Force India), who by taking fourth gave his team something to cheer for. Di Resta himself will drop five places on the grid Sunday because of a gearbox change, while his teammate Nico Hulkenberg was left dead last by mechanical issues.

Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) too had a good showing, in fifth place, beating two-time reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), as well as his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg, respectively sixth and seventh.

Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) and Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber) follow behind the trio, in eighth and ninth spots.

Notable drivers left outside the top 10 include Red Bull's Mark Webber (11th) – who failed to make it to Q3 by 0.067s – and Jérôme d'Ambrosio (16th), the Belgian driver standing in at Lotus for the suspended Romain Grosjean.



Qualifying results* – Italian Grand Prix (Monza)

1.Lewis Hamilton (McLaren MP4/27-Mercedes) - 1'24"010 - Q3
2.Jenson Button (McLaren MP4/27-Mercedes) - 1'24"133 - Q3
3.Felipe Massa (Ferrari F2012) - 1'24"247 - Q3
4.Michael Schumacher (Mercedes MGP W03) - 1'24"540 - Q3
5.Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull RB8-Renault) - 1'24"802 - Q3
6.Nico Rosberg (Mercedes MGP W03) - 1'24"833 - Q3
7.Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus E20-Renault) - 1'24"855 - Q3
8.Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber C31-Ferrari) - 1'25"109 - Q3
9.Paul Di Resta (Force India VJM05-Mercedes) - 1'24"304 - Q3 ***
10.Fernando Alonso (Ferrari F2012) - 1'25"678 - Q3
11.Mark Webber (Red Bull RB8-Renault) - 1'24"809 - Q2
12.Sergio Perez (Sauber C31-Ferrari) - 1'24"901 - Q2
13.Bruno Senna (Williams FW34-Renault) - 1'25"042 - Q2
14.Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso STR7-Ferrari) - 1'25"312 - Q2
15.Jerome D'Ambrosio (Lotus E20-Renault) - 1'25"408 - Q2
16.Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso STR7-Ferrari) - 1'25"441 - Q2
17.Heikki Kovalainen (Caterham CT01-Renault) - 1'26"382 - Q1
18.Vitaly Petrov (Caterham CT01-Renault) - 1'26"887 - Q1
19.Timo Glock (Marussia MR01-Cosworth) - 1'27"039 - Q1
20.Pastor Maldonado (Williams FW34-Renault) - 1'24"820 - Q2 **
21.Charles Pic (Marussia MR01-Cosworth) - 1'27"073 - Q1
22.Narain Karthikeyan (HRT F112-Cosworth) - 1'27"441 - Q1
23.Pedro De La Rosa (HRT F112-Cosworth) - 1'27"629 - Q1
24.Nico Hulkenberg (Force India VJM05-Mercedes) - no time - Q1

*Unofficial results
**Ten-place grid penalty for Spa incident
***Five-place grid penalty for gearbox change

Antoine Cremer
Antoine Cremer
Automotive expert