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Fernando Alonso produced a stunning lap to grab Ferrari’s first pole position of 2010 at the Italian Grand Prix.
The Spaniard was 0.122 seconds quicker than McLaren’s Jenson Button at Monza to give himself a great chance of reviving his faltering title challenge.
Alonso’s team-mate Felipe Massa was third ahead of Red Bull’s Mark Webber, whose fourth was an excellent effort.
McLaren’s championship leader Lewis Hamilton could manage only fifth place, with Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel sixth.
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Formula 1: Italian Grand Prix - Race Line-Up
Formula 1: Jenson Button Fastest in First Practice at Monza
Formula 1: Italian Grand Prix - First Practice Results
Formula 1: Sebastian Vettel Fastest in Second Practice at Monza
Formula 1: Italian Grand Prix - Second Practice Results
Formula 1: Lewis Hamilton Fastest in Final Practice at Monza
Formula 1: Italian Grand Prix - Final Practice Results
F1 Standings Ahead of Italian Grand Prix
Alonso’s fastest time of one minute 21.962 seconds came on the first of two runs in the top-10 qualifying shoot-out, at which point he was nearly 0.3 secs quicker than Button and 0.6 faster than Massa.
Defending world champion Button closed the gap on his second run, on which the Spaniard did not improve, but could not find enough to snatch pole. BBC Sport
Alonso said: “It was a nice surprise. I thought someone would arrive on the last lap and we would finish second or third by hundredths of a second.
“But it didn’t happen, and this is a fantastic taste to be on pole position here in Italy for Ferrari.
“Tomorrow we need a podium minimum to remain in the (title) fight. There is no big pressure about winning the race, but at the same time we know
we cannot afford a DNF or bad result.
“A win would be great, but let’s try to be consistent and put in a good performance as we’ve not been that consistent this season.” SkySports
Seventh was very closely fought as Nico Rosberg lapped his Mercedes in 1m 23.027s to Nico Hulkenberg’s 1m 23.037s for Williams and Robert Kubica’s 1m 23.039s for Renault. Rubens Barrichello completed the top 10 with 1m 23.328s in the second Williams.
As Alonso set the pace with 1m 22.297s to pip Button and Hamilton in Q2, Adrian Sutil found himself bumped when Nico Rosberg improved, leaving the Force India driver 11th on 1m 23.199s. Mercedes GP’s Michael Schumacher’s efforts to improve came up short with 1m 23.388s, leaving him 12th ahead of Kamui Kobayashi’s BMW Sauber on 1m 23.659s, Sebastien Buemi’s 1m 23.681s for Toro Rosso, Vitaly Petrov’s 1m 23.819s for Renault, Jaime Alguersuari’s 1m 23.919s for Toro Rosso and Pedro de la Rosa on 1m 24.044s in the second BMW Sauber.
Jarno Trulli was 18th on 1m 25.540s with Lotus team mate Heikki Kovalainen shadowing him on 1m 25.742s. After Liuzzi, Timo Glock was Virgin’s lead runner with 1m 25.934s ahead of team mate Lucas di Grassi on 1m 25.974s. Glock, however, will get a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox replacement. And Petrov is under investigation for impeding him in the first chicane early in Q1. Formula 1
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