Italian Grand Prix qualifying report

Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton has claimed pole position for tomorrows Italian Grand Prix at Monza. The British driver snatched pole in the dying seconds of the session from the hard charging Adrian Sutil driving for Force India – only 0.195 seconds slower.

The Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen finished in third position maintaining his strong form after victory two weeks ago in the Belgian Grand Prix. The second McLaren of Heikki Kovalinen will start from fourth position just ahead of the Brawn pairing of Rubens Barrichello and championship leader Jenson Button in fifth and sixth positions respectively.

Qualifying was a frustrating experience for the Red Bull cars with Sebastien Vettel in ninth place and Australian Mark Webber in tenth. Webbers championship challenge will be all the harder to maintain from this position.

Speaking in the post-qualifying press conference Lewis Hamilton said;

“That was a very close qualifying session, but the team did a great job this weekend. The car was feeling very good this weekend and I was able to put the lap together. It’s such a great feeling when you can put one lap together. We have to wait and see what the strategies are for everyone tomorrow, but we needed to be where we are. We’re in the best position to start the race, and it’s great to have Kers (power-boost) so I can boost off the line, be clear of any incident, and try to control it from there.”

There were casualties in qualifying, one of the most high-profile being Ferrari newboy Giancarlo Fisichella who found himself knocked out in Q2 possibly still hampered by relatively heavy shunt in FP3 earlier this morning. Fisichella went off at the high speed Parabolica corner knocking the front left wheel from his car and having to sit out the remainder of the session – he had to settle for 14th position on the grid, a stark contrast to the Force India team he was racing for a fortnight ago who achieved a Q3 position for both their drivers for the first time in the teams history.

2009 Italian Grand Prix qualifying result.