MONZA (Italy): Lewis Hamilton claimed pole position with a new lap record for Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix with Valtteri Bottas taking second place in qualifying for another Mercedes front row lock-out.
McLaren’s Carlos Sainz posted the third fastest time and is joined on the second row by Sergio Perez for Racing Point.
The session proved another humbling experience for Ferrari with Sebastian Vettel going out in Q1 and Charles Leclerc, who won at the circuit last year, in Q2.
This means no Ferrari inside the top 10 at Monza for the first time since 1984.
Hamilton clocked a fastest lap in one minute and 18.887 seconds to beat Bottas by 0.069 seconds.
In pure speed, Hamilton’s track lap record performance produced an unconfirmed fastest lap in F1 history.
It was Hamilton’s record-increasing 94th career pole position, his sixth in seven races and his seventh in Italy. It also extended Mercedes run to eight consecutive pole positions this season.
“It wasn’t too bad,” said Hamilton, with a hint of a smile.
