Hamilton eases to Italian Grand Prix pole position

F1 Grand Prix, GP Italy, Autodromo Nazionale di Monza

Lewis Hamilton secured pole position for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, edging out his Mercedes team mate by nearly half a second. Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen salvaged the Ferrari fans by taking third and fourth on the starting grid.

Qualifying got underway with Pascal Wehrlein being the first out on track, surprisingly on medium compound tyres. He was closely followed by Renault's Kevin Magnussen, using the more suitable super soft tyres. Mercedes joined the party 5 minutes later, immediately setting the fastest times to get through on a single flying lap for each car.

2 minutes from the end of Q1, Vettel was the closest competitor to Mercedes, but 1.2s down on Hamilton. Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Verstappen and Bottas followed in the ranking and opted not to return to the track in the final moments. Interestingly, both Ferraris set their times on the softs, while everybody else opted for the super soft tyres.

In the dying seconds, both McLarens came close to early elimination, but still made it by going 14th and 16th fastest. Pascal Wehrlein managed to progress to Q2 as well with a 15th time. Daniil Kvyat meanwhile was frustrated and swore over the radio. He ended up in 17th, ahead of both Saubers, the Renault factory team cars and Esteban Ocon, who did not even set a time.

At he start of Q2, Rosberg was out first, using the softs to be able to start the race on this tyre. Lewis Hamilton followed 10s later, similarly on the softs to go even faster. The Englishman however asked to go again if there were still tyres available, as he reported a minor flat spot on these tyres - which could hence hold him back in the first stint of tomorrow's race. He later returned to the track, but failed to improve his time, forcing him to use the flat spotted tyres in the race.

Vettel was the third fastest man in Q2, 7 tenths down on Hamilton, despite using the super soft tyres. Valtteri Bottas slotted into 4th by using super softs as well.

Two minutes and a half from the end of the session, all but Vettel and Bottas returned to the track. Verstappen was the first out on track and comfortably secured a place in Q3, as well as his team mate Daniel Ricciardo. Gutierrez impressed by recording the 7th fastest time.

As the track was opened for the final part of qualifying, only 6 cars opted to take the track early on while Bottas and both Red Bull waited another minute. The outcome was rather predictable at the front, with Hamilton fastest again, 3 tenths ahead of Rosberg. Raikkonen was third fastest, 7 tenths down on Hamilton, followed by Vettel, Bottas, Ricciardo, Verstappen, Hulkenberg and Perez.

Gutierrez was also out, but as he went through the gravel on the exit of Lesmo 2 he decided to return to the pits before completing his timed lap.

The second series of laps saw Hamilton increase his advantage on Rosberg while Vettel got ahead of Raikkonen to take third, even though he ran wide through Parabolica, having all four wheels beyond the white line for a large section of the corner.