Sebastian Vettel won his tenth pole for the Formula One Italian Grand Prix at Monza, maintaining Red Bull’s perfect pole record for the 2011 season.
Vettel went out early in the final qualifying session, set a time of 1:22.613 but almost lost the rear end on his next lap and had to abort. He circled slowly to recharge the KERS then came in to wait.
McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button set their fastest laps early in the session also, qualifying second and third respectively, with laps of 1:22.725 and 1:22.275.
Both went out in the final minute of qualifying to run a final fast lap, and both made errors and had to abort, leaving them with their early times.
McLaren Mercedes team principal Martin Whitmarsh said in a statement, ““It probably sounds a bit churlish for me to say that we’re a little disappointed today—because second and third is a pretty decent result when all’s said and done—but our car is performing very well here and it would have been nice if we could have bagged pole position.
“Lewis and Jenson had each posted a good, fast lap in Q3, but, in their efforts to improve, pushing to the limit, they both made small mistakes in the first half of their laps, losing time in the process. We therefore elected to abort both their laps.”
Sebastian Vettel also went out for a final flyer. His lap was flawless; he improved his time to 1:22.275, half-a-second quicker than the McLarens.
Fernando Alonso was the fastest Ferrari in fourth, at1m 22.841. Mark Webber qualified his Red Bull fifth, at 1:22.972.
Vettel has now scored ten poles per season twice, putting his second behind the great Ayrton Senna, with three.
Monza was the site of Sebastian Vettel’s first Formula One win, in 2008.
The 2011 Formula One Italian Grand Prix starts Sunday, September 11, at 8 a.m. ET. It will be broadcast in the U.S. on SPEED-TV.
