Raikkonen heads all-Ferrari front row, but Vettel unhappy with second; Hamilton third; Kimi sets F1's fastest pole lap; Sunday's race starts at 2.10pm, with build-up from 12.30pm on Sky F1
Thursday 6 December 2018 11:29, UK
Kimi Raikkonen upstaged title contenders Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton with the fastest pole position lap in F1 history to head a home Ferrari front-row lockout at the Italian GP.
In an exhilarating battle for pole between the two Ferraris and Hamilton's Mercedes, Raikkonen emerged ahead by a tenth with his final lap to send the Monza grandstands wild as Vettel finished second and title leader Hamilton third.
"We speak after," said Vettel over Ferrari team radio, with Raikkonen seemingly benefiting from a straight-line speed 'tow' behind the sister car on the road in Q3.
Vettel initially shouted 'yes' in celebration over the radio as he briefly hit the front before being told his team-mate had pipped him to pole. He later told reporters: "Clearly I wasn't happy but I don't tell you why."
Vettel keeps unhappiness to himself
F1's fastest-ever average speed qualifying lap was beaten six times by the three leading drivers in the final stage of qualifying, with Raikkonen's final 1:19.119 time representing a new record of 163.785mph. Juan-Pablo Montoya's previous record, which was also set at Monza, had stood since 2004.
"That was epic. The pressure was unbelievable," said Sky F1 pundit Nico Rosberg.
Hamilton, who leads Vettel by 17 points in the Drivers' Championship and was briefly booed by the Ferrari-mad tifosi fans, said: "We knew they had the pace this weekend and it was going to take something special to catch them. It's generally been that gap all weekend. It was amazing how intense it was and that's how racing should be."
Valtteri Bottas was a distant fourth in the second Mercedes, with Max Verstappen fifth for Red Bull but 1.5 seconds off the leading pace on a circuit that does not suit the team's Renault-powered car.
Romain Grosjean was sixth for Haas, Carlos Sainz seventh for Renault and Pierre Gasly ninth for Toro Rosso. But in the surprise performances of the day, Lance Stroll delivered struggling Williams their first Q3 appearance of the season with a strong 10th place.
All-red front row…but Vettel not ahead
Ferrari had been favourites to secure a front-row lockout, but Hamilton delivered what proved a one-car Mercedes challenge to the home team through qualifying and actually held provisional pole after the first Q3 runs.
Hamilton improved again on his final attempt, only for Vettel to edge him out, and then for Raikkonen to beat both of them seconds later.
"It's a lot of games, going first and getting tows," said the 38-year-old Raikkonen, who becomes F1's oldest polesitter since a 41-year-old Nigel Mansell in 1994.
Vettel's second place assured Ferrari of their first home GP front-row lockout since 2000, although he was clearly disappointed not to have headed the grid himself for the narrow run down to turn one on Sunday.
"To be honest it was not a tidy lap I think the other laps were actually better ones. I lost time pretty much everywhere," said a muted Vettel
"It was just not a good lap and not good enough. Lucky to get second and not third, but it's just not good enough."
Alonso and Magnussen see the stewards
While the top three cars on the grid fought an exclusive battle for pole, Monza qualifying served up several surprises further down the field - and even one race-style duel.
Six days after finishing fifth at Spa, Sergio Perez failed to make it out of Q1 for Force India - although by a scant 0.001s margin as two tenths of a second covered 11 cars in a fiercely-competitive first stage of qualifying.
Haas driver Kevin Magnussen was then the shock Q2 casualty in 11th after he and McLaren's Fernando Alonso, who surprised himself by getting out of Q1, fought over the same piece of tarmac at the first chicane.
"What the hell is Fernando doing?" said Magnussen over team radio, while Alonso himself said to his race engineer: "Magnussen was trying to race into turn one."
Magnussen: Alonso thinks he's a god
Stewards investigated the clash but ruled no further action was required.
Meanwhile, Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and Renault's Nico Hulkenberg did not set lap times in Q2 owing to grid penalties and will share the back row for Sunday's race which begins at 2.10pm.
That spares McLaren's struggling Stoffel Vandoorne last place after the Belgian proved the slowest qualifier for the second weekend in succession.
