Vettel and Webber Lead Italian Grand Prix Qualifying

Sebastian Vettel had another spectacular performance and made taking the pole position for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. It is his first pole position since the Canadian Grand Prix. Mark Webber will start in second tomorrow. The real surprise was Nico Hulkenberg from SauberSauberSwitzerland, 1970 > present21 models
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who qualified third. Hulkenberg in his FerrariFerrariItaly, 1947 > present233 models
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-powered Sauber actually qualified better than the two factory Ferrari cars. 

Clear weather and cloudless skies greeted the drivers for the beginning of qualifying. Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton were the three fastest drivers of the Q1 session.

Midway through the Q2 session, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa were leading, but it did not last. With two minutes to go, Vettel, Alonso and Webber were leading. There were big surprises at the end of the session. Hamilton, Grosjean and Raikkonen were all knocked out of the session. Hamilton had had five consecutive pole positions prior to Monza.

Vettel, Alonso and Mark Webber were the three fastest in the session. Both Toro RossoToro RossoItaly, 2006 > present10 models
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cars and both McLarensMcLarenUnited Kingdom, 1963 > present92 models
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moved forward to Q3. 

Following the Q2 session, race control announced that Adrian Sutil was being investigated for blocking Hamilton on his final lap. After qualifying had finished, Sutil was given a three-place penalty to drop him to 17th. 

With both Ferraris into the Q3 session, they were working together to set fast laps. Massa was set up in front of Alonso so that Alonso could draft him and gain speed. On the final lap of qualifying, the scheme did not work and Massa was too far away. In fact, Massa actually qualified better than his teammate. Vettel was the final driver to cross the line and was also the fastest, and Mark Webber will start next to him.