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Sebastian Vettel in Monza Luca Bruno/AP/Press Association Images
Untouchable

Another GP, another pole for Vettel

The reigning world champion is closing on the record for most pole positions in a single Formula 1 season.

SEBASTIAN VETTEL CONTINUED his march towards a second Drivers’ world championship by claiming his tenth pole position of the season in Italy on Saturday.

The German has been in incredible form during qualifying this season and is on track to beat Nigel Mansell’s record of 14 poles in one season – a mark that was set back in 1992.

McLaren had been expected to challenge Vettel – considering that Monza was seen as a potentially difficult track for Red Bull – but with Lewis Hamilton making a mistake on his final run, the former’s lap of 1:22.275 was a full half a second quicker than the rest of the entire field.

Hamilton’s team-mate, Jenson Button, will start Sunday’s race third on the grid with Fernando Alonso fourth for Ferrari and Vettel’s Red Bull team-mate, Mark Webber, fifth.

Full results from qualifying in Italy >>>>

“We are surprised how competitive we are here and thought it would be much closer,” Vettel later commented. “This track didn’t suit our car for the last two years (but), this year, the car is very good and I’m very happy. I felt very comfortable going into qualifying and throughout the session I could feel the track getting quicker. I simply went with the track and that is the secret, if there is any.”

Hamilton is still hopeful of a good result on race day, despite admitting that McLaren simple could not match his rival’s pace.

“We’re very competitive – Jenson and I both qualified in the top three – but Seb (Vettel) was mega-quick,” he said. “In Q1 and Q2 we were pretty close to him, but he pulled out another half-second in Q3 on what was an extremely good lap. We’ve improved all weekend and we have a good chance to get our first one-two of 2011 tomorrow – I’m optimistic.”

READ – Preview: The Italian Grand Prix at Monza

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