Sebastian Vettel has continued his searing pace from practice by securing his fourth pole position of 2013 for tomorrow’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
The German driver finished fastest in every session as his dominant spell of form continued on Saturday as he locked out the front row for Red Bull alongside teammate Mark Webber and surprise package Nico Hulkenberg in third. For Ferrari, Saturday was less fruitful as Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso could only finish fourth and fifth respectively despite playing the tactical game in qualifying.
Q1 began in hot and sunny conditions with Nico Rosberg coming out early in order to make up for the time lost in FP3 due to his car overheating. The German driver soon moved to the top of the timesheets ahead of Esteban Gutierrez early on, but Toro Rosso proved that their good practice pace was no one-off, with Vergne enjoying a good spell in P1 on the hard tire. However, he was soon displaced by Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, with the two former winners at Monza both showing signs of good pace ahead of the race tomorrow. The German driver left it late to put in his first time, but he finished the session a full two-tenths clear of Nico Rosberg in P2. Further down the order, Force India and Williams scrapped to avoid the dropzone, and a last-gasp lap from Pastor Maldonado was enough to secure the Venezuelan driver a place in Q2. Less fortunate was Valtteri Bottas, whose could not improve and was eliminated alongside Esteban Gutierrez, Giedo van der Garde, Charles Pic, Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton.
Keen on continuing his fine performance from Q1, Ricciardo was the first driver out in Q2 and he immediately laid down a benchmark that his teammate could not match. It wasn’t until home favorite Alonso posted his first time that the Australian driver was displaced, with the Spaniard moving almost half-a-second clear of his teammate, Felipe Massa, who was in P2. Webber finally emerged from the pits with six minutes remaining, followed by Vettel sixty seconds later. When they finally posted their first times, the Red Bulls looked strong once again with Vettel moving two-tenths clear of Alonso, whilst Webber trailed the Spaniard by just 0.036 seconds. Lewis Hamilton nearly went off on the exit of Parabolica, and the Mercedes driver could only go P9 with his first competitive time. However, it wasn’t enough as the Briton dropped out in Q2 for the first time this season, and he was joined by Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean as Lotus appeared to struggle. Sergio Perez did enough to make it into Q3 with a late lap, whilst Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg performed admirably to finish fourth and fifth.
Keen on making up for his teammate’s failure, Nico Rosberg was the first driver out in Q3 along with Mark Webber and Daniel Ricciardo. Ferrari were also quick to send their drivers out, lining up once again to try and give Alonso greater straight line speed thanks to Massa’s tow. However, neither driver could match Webber’s benchmark time, a full four-tenths behind the Australian. Vettel resumed normal service by going quickest of all with five minutes remaining, with his teammate for 2014, Ricciardo, going fourth with his first time despite a mistake on the exit of turn five. Webber could not topple his teammate late on, but Massa managed to outqualify his illustrious teammate to line up fourth. Nico Hulkenberg upset the odds to finish an incredible third, but it was his compatriot, Vettel, who went quicker still on his final lap to lock out the front row for Red Bull.
This result marks Vettel’s fortieth pole position in Formula One and fourth pole of the season, and this result is made all the more sweeter by the failings of his championship rivals. Qualifying also marks a return to form for Sauber, with Hulkenberg securing the team’s best result of the season for Sauber, but home favorites Alonso and Massa will be frustrated not to have finished in the top three.