Vettel on pole at Monza ahead of Webber and Hülkenberg

Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber confirmed the good performance of Red Bull Racing in free practice for the Italian Grand Prix. The Championship leader won his fourth pole of the season, his first since Montreal, the 40th of his career and his third at Monza, by setting a lap in 1'23"755 two tenths ahead of his teammate. Qualifying at Monza offered many surprises, the first being the third place taken by Nico Hulkenberg at the wheel of his modest Sauber C32. In comparison, his teammate Esteban Gutiérrez will only start from 17th place.

Disappointment is in order for the Team Ferrari. After having tried without real success to take advantage of Felipe Massa's aspiration, Fernando Alonso only takes fifth position, failing behind his teammate. Furthermore, the first Mercedes will only start from sixth place with Nico Rosberg at the wheel. His teammate Lewis Hamilton, who remained on four consecutive poles, only qualified in 12th position after missing his first flying lap and being slowed by traffic. Lotus F1 Team is also looking gloomy since for the first time this season, its two cars missed the last session. Kimi Räikkönen and Romain Grosjean surround the W04 of the 2008 world champion, the Frenchman ahead of Adrian Sutil who finds himself under investigation by the stewards for possibly hindering Lewis Hamilton in the second session.

Conversely, Toro Rosso can be satisfied with her qualifications at Monza. Daniel Ricciardo took seventh position on the grid ahead of the McLaren by Sergio Pérez and Jenson Button. Jean-Eric Vergne will complete the top ten despite a broken bottom at the start of qualifying for an unknown reason. The Frenchman seemed able to beat his teammate before going out into the gravel trap of the Parabolica during his only flying lap. THE Williams are still behind with Pastor Maldonado 15th ahead of Paul di Resta and Esteban Gutiérrez while Valtteri Bottas only achieved 18th place. Giedo van der Garde took the advantage over his teammate Charles Pic who will start from 20th position. Jules Bianchi follows half a second behind in his Marussia with almost five tenths ahead of his teammate Max Chilton.

The start of the Italian Grand Prix will be at 14 p.m. and will be followed live on AUTOhebdo.fr. As a reminder, the weather forecasts announce the risk of storms which could well shake up the hierarchy. Click on this link to see photos from the Italian Grand Prix.