McLaren lock out front row for Italian Grand Prix

The top three for Monza

After a week full of speculation about his future, Lewis Hamilton firmly reminded everyone why his talents are in demanded by placing his McLaren on pole position for the Italian Grand Prix.

Teammate Jenson Button grabbed second place to lock out the front row for the British team who set a record 63 front row sweeps.

No one was able to match Hamilton’s blistering time of 1m24.010s as he looks to get his championship challenge back on track.

“I had much better laps in practice. I didn't think that lap was anywhere near good enough,” Hamilton said.

“After that, I had Kimi and the two Ferraris in front and I wasn't able to better it. I'm happy for the team because they have been doing a fantastic job. To have us both up here is what they deserve."

His cause was aided by the fact that world championship leader, Fernando Alonso, suffered a mechanical problem and will start in 10th.

But there was good news for the Ferrari fans who saw Felipe Massa put in a season-best performance to take third place.

Force India will rue their lack of reliability after Paul di Resta was demoted from fourth to ninth after a gear box change earlier in the day. But it was much worse for teammate Nico Hulkenberg who failed to set a time in qualifying one and will start in last place.

Red Bull’s lack of pace was again apparent as Mark Webber failed to make Q3 and Sebastian Vettel could only start in sixth, nearly 0.800s off pole position.

Williams’ pastor Maldonado will be forced to start in 22nd after a 10-place grid penalty is applied form his mistakes at Spa last week.

Mercedes will start with Michael Schumacher in fifth and Nico Rosberg in seventh and Sauber have Kamui Koayashi in eigth and Sergio Perez in 13th.

Final qualifying positions

Philip Wicinski 

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