Fernando Alonso claims home pole for Ferrari

Fernando Alonso (1:21.962) secured Ferrari’s first pole position since the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix with a fine first Q3 run to keep his slim championship chances alive in front of the Italian team’s fans. Nico Hulkenberg and Rubens Barrichello, meanwhile, start eighth and tenth for the AT&T Williams team on a circuit that places strong demands on engines.

Alonso, explaining why his first Q3 run was stronger, said: “On the second lap I risked a bit more and in the fast corners here at Monza with the low downforce, it’s easy to overdrive. The first, calmer lap was the better one.”

Jenson Button (1:22.084) improved on his final run and managed to split the Ferraris on the grid, with Felipe Massa qualifying third fastest (1:22.293). “I want to say a big thank-you to the team,” the reigning champion said. “We weren’t sure which approach to take in terms of downforce level but our side of the garage made the right decision to run the higher level with the F-duct. In Q3 you just have to push that bit more but it’s tricky around here — you hit a kerb too hard and you go slower. I hit one hard in Ascari on my final run but I’m delighted to be second and it’s the first time I’ve been on the front row this year.”

For the first time since last year’s Italian Grand Prix therefore, there will not be a Red Bull on the front row of the grid. Despite that, Mark Webber (1:22.433) did a fine job to put himself fourth with his last run, pipping championship leader Lewis Hamilton despite missing out on his option tyre laps in both FP2 and FP3.

Hamilton (1:22.623), having looked a likely contender for the pole, outbraked himself into the first chicane on his last lap of the session and had to be content with fifth place. The drastic difference in downforce length between the two McLarens was demonstrated by Hamilton’s speed trap time being 15kph up on Button’s but from fifth on the grid, it could be a difficult race for the ’08 champion.

Sebastian Vettel (1:22.625) looks like he could also have a tough task to get his championship challenge back on track starting sixth with the second Red Bull. Behind the top three teams Nico Rosberg (1:23.027) starts seventh for Mercedes while team mate Michael Schumacher could not get out of Q2 and lines up 12th. Splitting Hulkenberg (1:23.037)  and Barrichello (1:23.142), meanwhile, was Robert Kubica’s Renault.

Looking ahead to tomorrow’s race, Alonso said: “I think we need a podium minimum to remain in the championship fight. There’s not a big stress to win the race but we know we cannot afford another DNF or bad result. What we need is the consistency we haven’t so far had, for the rest of the championship.”

Jarno Trulli (1:25.540), on home ground, took the new team honours in Italy and starts the championship’s 14th round 18th, 0.2s ahead of Lotus Racing team mate Heikki Kovalainen.