Hamilton seizes pole at Monza

F1 Grand Prix, GP Italy, Autodromo Nazionale di Monza

Lewis Hamilton decisively seized pole position for the Italian Grand Prix with an impressive lap, securing him an advantage to Nico Rosberg who makes it a complete Mercedes front row on the grid.

Kamui Kobayashi, back in the car for Caterham F1 was the first to set a timed lap, 8 tenths quicker than his teammate Ericsson who crossed the line a few seconds later. The Force India cars soon slotted in between those. Caterham's early pace though came thanks to their immediate use of the medium tyre, contrary to nearly everybody else.

8 minutes into the session, Alonso is the first to set a reasonable banker, but he is soon improved by Rosberg and later Hamilton. The Mercedes cars went on to improve a few more times and after 3 flying laps returned to the pits with 6 minutes left on the clock. At around the same time, the top 10 in the ranking also returned, safe of their position to get through to Q2.

At the back, it was obvious that Lotus wasn't really getting anywhere. Maldonado in the end qualified 17th but after that lap was asked not to change gear anymore and return to the pits. Grosjean slotted in behind in 18th while Kamui Kobayashi finished qualifying in 19th, ahead of both Marussias and Ericsson.

Q2 kicked off with a lot of action early on in the session. It was however Hulkenberg who set the first laptime with an obviously understeering Force India car. Everybody went out on the option tyre, knowing it would be virtually impossible to still make it on the hards.

Just past halfway, Hamilton went fastest, a tenth quicker than Rosberg. The Williams drivers are 3rd and 4th, ahead of Alonso, Button, Perez, Vettel, Ricciardo and Raikkonen. Outside of the top 10 are Magnussen, Kvyat, Vergne, Hulkenberg, Gutierrez and Sutil.

Another series of laps saw everybody out again, even though the top 4 had a half a second in hand over 5th placed Alonso. Raikkonen in the end was caught out, having overcooked Roggia two times, unable to improve his time and ending up in 12th place. Eliminated along with him are Kvyat in 11th, Vergne 13th, ahead of Hulkenberg, Sutil and Gutierrez.

In Q3, the first runs bring a somewhat predictable pecking order at the front, although Hamilton did set the fastest lap with an impressive advantage of 0.4s to Nico Rosberg. Bottas and Massa went 3rd and 4th fastest, ahead of Button who surprisingly beat Vettel and Alonso. Magnussen went 8th fastest on his first attempt, quicker than Ricciardo - complaining of a lack of rear grip - and Perez.

On the second attempts, Alonso improved to get ahead of Vettel on the grid, but Magnussen eventually managed to qualify 5th, ahead of Button. Nico Rosberg also realised a tenth of improvement but was no threat for his team mate who takes pole after an impressive lap.