Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Sebastian Vettel claimed his first pole position in only his 22nd start in Formula One racing with an impressive display at a soaking wet qualifying session at Monza.
The 21-year-old German set his time early in Q3 with one minute, 37. 555 seconds – which was good enough to take the top spot as the rain steadily became heavier, making it difficult for the other drivers to beat his time.
By claiming his maiden pole position, Vettel becomes the youngest Formula One driver to take the top spot. His performance over the last Grands Prix has been nothing short of remarkable and with this latest achievement, the German proves why he is a future star in Formula One motor racing.
As for the world championship leader, Lewis Hamilton had a difficult session in which a gamble on intermediates Bridgestone paid a heavy price on his bid for the title… Even though he switched back to the extreme wets, Lewis failed to recover from his mistake and he was left struggling for pace and grip. He ended up in a disappointing P15.
His McLaren team-mate fared better with a front row start for Heikki Kovalainen. The Finn may have missing out on grabbing pole by less than a tenth of a second from Vettel but he has a good opportunity in winning his second race with P2.
Red Bull Racing Mark Webber will start in an excellent third ahead of the sister car of Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais.
Williams will be celebrating their 500th Grand Prix this Sunday and by starting fifth on the grid, Nico Rosberg will have a great chance of scoring valuable points for the team in the constructors’ standings.
What about the tifosi’s favourite team Ferrari? This is their home race and the passionate Italian fans are expecting a result from the red cars. So where did Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen qualifying? Well, Massa will start the race down in sixth after just managed to scrape through into Q3 while his team-mate Raikkonen didn’t. The Brazilian is now only two points behind Hamilton in the drivers’ standings following the McLaren driver being penalised in cutting the chicane in last weekend’s dramatic Belgian Grand Prix and he has an opportunity to gain the championship lead thanks to his better grid position over his title rival. As for Kimi, P14 is not ideal for a driver who will stay at the Scuderia until 2010 but at least he is ahead of Hamilton!
The Toyotas of Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock sandwiched Fernando Alonso’s Renault, with seventh, eighth and ninth respectively. While Nick Heidfeld – who spun in Q1 – completes the top ten for BMW Sauber.
With more rain possible for Sunday, a fantastic race is in prospect as Vettel and the others seek to capitalise on their performances. Kubica, Raikkonen and Hamilton do everything they can to overcome their tribulations and it will be exciting to see the three championship contenders racing through the field. Hopefully Lewis won’t be cutting the chicanes as he races with Kimi during the 53-lap race at Monza!
Starting grid for the Italian Grand Prix:
1. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:37.555
2. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:37.631
3. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:38.117
4. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:38.445
5. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:38.767
6. Massa Ferrari 1:38.894
7. Trulli Toyota 1:39.152
8. Alonso Renault 1:39.751
9. Glock Toyota 1:39.787
10. Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:39.906
11. Kubica BMW Sauber 1:36.697
12. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 1:36.698
13. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:37.284
14. Raikkonen Ferrari 1:37.522
15. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:39.265
16. Barrichello Honda 1:36.510
17. Piquet Renault 1:36.630
18. Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:36.653
19. Button Honda 1:37.006
20. Sutil Force India-Ferrari 1:37.417
I managed to miss the qualifying and after checking out my fave f1 site for the latest F1 news, I though huh, wtf is Elton reporting here. Massa 6th, Hamilton 15th!, Raiki 14th, WTF