69th pole position for Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) scores his 69th Formula One pole position in a career in the qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix today at Autodromo Nazionale Monza. With that number Hamilton becomes a new record holder with most poles in Formula One history.

Hamilton beats the closest rivals for more than a second, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo setting second-fastest and third-fastest times. Due to their grid penalties, rookie Lance Stroll (Williams) will start the race from the front row. Esteban Ocon (Force India) and Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) will share the second row. Two Ferrari drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel will share the third row, ahead of Felipe Massa (Williams) and Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren).

2017 Italian Grand Prix, saturday qualifying

A rain caused lots of problems at Monza

Six drivers with grid penalties

A total of six drivers started Monza qualifying carrying grid penalties. Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg will drop 10 places thanks to a new MGU-H, while his teammate Jolyon Palmer takes a 15-place hit due to the same change plus a new turbocharger. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo has 25-place penalty after an unscheduled gearbox change. His teammate Max Verstappen will lose 20 places after a new turbocharger on his Renault power unit.

Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz will take a 10-place hit for a fifth MGU-H on his Renault power unit. McLaren’s Fernando Alonso will start at the back of the grid with 35-place penalty. The Spaniard is on his seventh engine, ninth MGU-H, seventh MGU-K, ninth turbo, sixth energy store and fifth control electronics.

Romain Grosjean crashed out in the Q1

Big delay because of a rain

The Q1 session started under heavy rain and ended soon, following Romain Grosjean’s crash. The session was red-flagged, being continued more than two and half hours later. Valtteri Bottas topped the Q1 while four drivers in the knockout zone were Kevin Magnussen, Jolyon Palmer, Marcus Ericsson and Pascal Wehrlein. Romain Grosjean didn’t restart.

Lewis Hamilton was the fastest driver in the Q2, beating his teammate. Knockout positions from P11 to P15 were taken by Sergio Perez, Nico Hulkenbergm Fernando Alonso, Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz Jr.