Hamilton's first pole since May's Spanish GP; Bottas and Massa third and fourth for Williams; Raikkonen fails to make top ten; Both Lotuses eliminated in Q1; Di Montezemolo stays on at Ferrari
Friday 19 September 2014 10:53, UK
Lewis Hamilton has put his faltering World Championship bid back on track by claiming pole position for the Italian GP ahead of Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg.
Producing one of the laps of the season to puncture – metaphorically rather than literally – the momentum built up by Rosberg after that incident in Spa, Hamilton claimed his first pole position since May’s Spanish GP with a lap of astonishing speed at the start of the top ten shoot-out.
“That was brilliant,” declared an approving Martin Brundle from the Sky Sports F1 commentary box as Hamilton tore round the Monza circuit in a time of 1:24.109. “That was one of the best laps, if not the best lap, I’ve seen him drive this year.”
And one of the most important, if not the most important, as Hamilton strives to trim Rosberg’s substantial 29-point lead in the standings. The German is running a lower downforce configuration on his W05 this weekend, making Rosberg faster in a straight-line - and track position all the more critical to Hamilton victory prospects. If he can keep his lead into the first corner then there may be no catching the Englishman. But if Rosberg can claim back the initiative then his superior straight-line speed - measured at about 3kmh - could make his Mercedes unpassable. Either way, their joust into Monza's notoriously ultra-tight first corner will be both unmissable and not for the faint-hearted.
"They won’t be ringing in my ears," Hamilton replied pointedly when asked if the warnings of Toto Wolff would be uppermost in his thoughts he approached the first chicane.
"It’s very difficult to overtake here because you need to have a big advantage to pass people. The start is going to be important, the outside of the track is not as good as the side l am starting so I am hoping I can benefit from that."
Rosberg, on pole for the previous four events, was on the backfoot after missing the entirety of Practice Three due to a gearbox failure. Hamilton was the faster driver in each of the three qualifying segments and although Rosberg cut the deficit with an improved second run in Q3, Hamilton's final advantage over his team-mate stood at nearly three-tenths of a second - a considerable margin around the flat-out, power-hungry Monza circuit. Rosberg, however, will not be easily beaten.
"Second place is still a good position for tomorrow," the World Championship leader said afterwards. "It's a long race and everything can happen."
Despite their Spa shenanigans, the two Mercedes drivers have been cleared to race each other, but with the third-placed Valtteri Bottas almost half a second down on Hamilton’s time it is clear that only another collision is likely to prevent the Silver Arrows finishing in one-two formation.
Bottas will start the race alongside Williams team-mate Felipe Massa with the two McLarens of Kevin Magnussen and Jenson Button sharing the third row and Monza once again impersonating Noah's Ark with only Fernando Alonso, fractionally faster than the two Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo, breaking the two-by-two chain of the top nine runners.
Ferrari had shown up well on Friday, offering a ray of encouragement to the Tifosi after yet another underwhelming season, but when it mattered most their practice pace was revealed to be a mirage.
"We have been quite competitive in practice all weekend, but we knew qualifying was when it really counted and I think some of the Mercedes engines were turned up and we dropped some places," conceded Alonso. "In general we have to be happy, we saw two Mercedes, two Williams, two McLaren, one Ferrari, two Red Bulls so personally I think I struck the maximum again.”
Was that a little dig at Kimi Raikkonen after the Finn only managed twelfth, failing to reach the final segment of qualifying on another anonymous weekend for the 2007 champion? Alonso v Raikkonen was supposed to be the battle of 2014 but has instead proved to be a walkover for the relentlessly-impressive Spaniard and a trifle compared to the fight at Mercedes.
Hamilton has won the latest battle but the war is still raging.
