ITALIAN GP – Hamilton holds of Ferrari for pole at Monza
Lewis Hamilton beat both Ferrari’s to take pole position for the Italian Grand Prix. The world champion looked unstoppable after his team-mate Nico Rosberg was force to change his engine to the old specification.
Kimi Raikkonen out qualified his Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel in second place for their teams home race.
Hamilton helped his team near the record of back to back poles with one more to pass the record set by Williams between 1992-93 of number of poles set by a team. Hamilton said “These guys did a great job, they are very close.” The gap between the Mercedes and Ferrari was .234
Vettel will be hoping that the Italian teams close qualifying will help him take his first victory at Monza for Ferrari. If he does take victory he would be the first driver since Sir Stirling Moss in the 1950s to win at Monza with three different teams.
The German said “I think it’s a fantastic result, second and third and very close to Lewis. Sorry Lewis, but I wouldn’t mind if you are not on the podium.”
Both Mercedes and Ferrari introduced engine upgrades for Monza, a track which long straights need high speed. But it has appears that Mercedes have retained the edge over the Ferrari.
Felipe Massa retained the edge over team-mate Valtteri Bottas in fifth. Sergio Perez also retained the edge over team-mate Nico Hulkenberg with Romain Grosjean beating Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson.
However, Ericsson has a penalty dropping him back to thirteenth for impeding Hulkenberg during qualifying.
Red Bull failed to make it into Q3 qualifying ahead of the McLaren’s with Daniil Kyvat fourteenth and Daniel Ricciardo fifteenth. While Jenson Button starts sixteenth ahead of Fernando Alonso.
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