Lewis Hamilton took pole position ahead of Nico Rosberg at the Italian Grand Prix as the warring Mercedes drivers prepare to resume their title battle at Monza on Sunday.
Hamilton took pole by 0,2s, finding most of his time in the second sector in which Rosberg struggled throughout the session. Rosberg went into qualifying without the benefit of a full final practice session after completing just three laps in FP3 due to a gearbox issue. However, Mercedes were able to rectify the problem without breaking any of the FIA seals on the gearbox, meaning he will not receive a grid penalty for Sunday's race.
Valtteri Bottas took third place for Williams, 0.5s off the pace of Hamilton's Mercedes but 0.15s quicker than team-mate Felipe Massa in fourth. Kevin Magnussen managed a brilliant final lap to take fifth place on the grid ahead of McLaren team-mate Jenson Button, who had to settle for sixth.
Fernando Alonso was the highest-placed Ferrari driver (and in the highest-placed car not powered by Mercedes), suggesting Ferrari's impressive practice pace was partly for the local fans. Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo will start eighth and ninth in the Red Bulls and look unlikely to spring the surprise they managed in Spa-Francorchamps. Sergio Perez rounded out the top ten in the Force India.
Kimi Raikkonen was the big-name driver to get knocked out in Q2. He made a mistake under braking for the second chicane and was off the pace in sectors two and three on his final attempt at a quick lap. His best effort was 0.6s off Ferrari team-mate Fernando Alonso and was only good enough for 12th overall. However, Daniil Kvyat's grid 10-place penalty for using his sixth engine of the season means Raikkonen will start 11th on the grid ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne, Nico Hulkenberg, Adrian Sutil and Esteban Gutierrez. Kvyat will drop to 21st place on the back row of the grid.
Lotus' poor weekend continued with both cars dropping out in Q1 with lap times roughly half a second off the Sauber in 16th place. Kamui Kobayashi was 19th on the grid after an impressive lap on his return to Caterham. He beat both Marussias and his team-mate Marcus Ericsson by 0.9s.
Read more at http://en.espnf1.com/italy/motorsport/story/174093.html#Kj3opT1obauWVyKc.99
