LEWIS HAMILTON FASTEST IN RAIN AFFECTED ITALIAN GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING

Lewis Hamilton made the most of extremely tricky conditions to qualify fastest for the Italian Grand Prix – Photo: LAT

Just a week after equalling the record, Lewis Hamilton has made it all his own after qualifying on pole position for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

Hamilton made the most of extremely tricky conditions to qualify over a second faster than his nearest rivals during the wet and rain-disrupted session.

Rookies Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon impressed with their performances and will start tomorrows race second and third.

Romain Grosjean climbs out of his crashed Haas – Photo: LAT

Qualifying initially got underway as scheduled. However, with the rain getting heavier and standing water on the newly resurfaced main straight it wasn’t long before Haas’s Romain Grosjean aquaplaned, crashing out of the session. Causing it to be immediately red flagged, delaying the remainder of qualifying for over two and half hours.

Once qualifying finally did resume, it was onto the intermediate tyre for the remainder of Q1 and Q2, where the Mercedes domination continued with Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas trading fastest times.

The rain returned for Q3, and the it was a battle between Hamilton and the two Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo at the top of the time sheets. Verstappen holding the fastest time until Hamilton blitzed the field with his time on the chequered flag.

Lance Stroll will start the Italian Grand Prix off the front row – Photo: LAT

Grid penalties for the Red Bull Drivers, see them drop down the order, elevating Williams’ Lance Stroll onto the front row of the grid. Force India’s Esteban Ocon third fastest will be joined on the second row by Valtteri Bottas. The two Ferrari’s make up the third row with Kimi Raikkonen slightly faster than Sebastian Vettel.

Formula 1 – Italian Grand Prix – Qualifying Result