Fernando Alonso ended Ferrari’s pole position drought by securing the top spot on the grid for the Italian GP this weekend.
The Spaniard put his F10 through its paces early in the session setting a 1:21.962, the only man all weekend to dip into the 1:21’s.
Jenson Button will start alongside him in second, splitting the two Ferrari’s at their home race.
Red Bull couldn’t maintain their qualifying dominance, slipping back to fourth and sixth, the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton between the two.
Nico Rosberg will start ahead of fellow German Nico Hulkenberg, with Robert Kubica and Rubens Barrichello behind.
Qualifying Report:
Q1 saw the usual six suspects drop-out, however the driver joining them was to be Vitantonio Liuzzi thanks to some technical issues which ended his session after just three laps.
An early blocking maneuver by Vitaly Petrov on Timo Glock could see the Russian penalised as the FIA are likely to look into the incident.
Meanwhile Timo Glock will drop to 24th as the Virgin team changed his gearbox prior to qualifying therefore warranting a five-place grid drop.
Q2 once again saw Michael Schumacher failling by the wayside whilst his team-mate made it through to Q3.
Joining the German in the midfield on the grid will be Pedro de la Rosa, Jaime Alguersuari, Vitaly Petrov, Sebastian Buemi, Kamui Kobayashi and Adrian Suti.
The final session of qualifying saw a lighting fast lap from Fernando Alonso early in the session, a lap which would secure pole position.
Italian Qualifying Results:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Q1 Time | Q2 Time | Q3 Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 1:23.431 | 1:22.706 | 1:22.433 |
| 5. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 1:22.830 | 1:22.394 | 1:22.623 |
| 6. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 1:23.235 | 1:22.701 | 1:22.675 |
| 2. | J. Button | McLaren | 1:23.085 | 1:22.354 | 1:22.084 |
| 9. | R. Kubica | Renault | 1:23.234 | 1:22.880 | 1:23.039 |
| 1. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 1:22.646 | 1:22.297 | 1:21.962 |
| 3. | F. Massa | Ferrari | 1:22.421 | 1:22.610 | 1:22.293 |
| 11. | A. Sutil | Force India | 1:23.493 | 1:23.199 | |
| 8. | N. Hulkenberg | Williams | 1:23.516 | 1:22.989 | 1:23.037 |
| 13. | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | 1:24.273 | 1:23.659 | |
| 17. | P. de la Rosa | Sauber | 1:24.442 | 1:24.044 | |
| 15. | V. Petrov | Renault | 1:24.086 | 1:23.819 | |
| 10. | R. Barrichello | Williams | 1:23.695 | 1:23.142 | 1:23.328 |
| 12. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:23.840 | 1:23.388 | |
| 7. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:23.529 | 1:23.055 | 1:23.027 |
| 14. | S. Buemi | Toro Rosso | 1:23.744 | 1:23.681 | |
| 16. | J. Alguersuari | Toro Rosso | 1:24.083 | 1:23.919 | |
| 20. | V. Liuzzi | Force India | 1:25.774 | ||
| 18. | J. Trulli | Lotus | 1:25.540 | ||
| 23. | B. Senna | Hispania | 1:26.847 | ||
| 19. | H. Kovalainen | Lotus | 1:25.742 | ||
| 22. | L. di Grassi | Virgin | 1:25.974 | ||
| 21. | T. Glock | Virgin | 1:25.934 | ||
| 24. | S. Yamamoto | Hispania | 1:27.020 |
