Mercedes’ driver Lewis Hamilton celebrates qualifying in pole position for the Italian Grand Prix at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza Saturday.
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The championship leader and defending three-time world champion clocked a best lap time of 1min 21.135sec to outpace the German by almost half a second.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was third fastest with Kimi Raikkonen qualifying fourth for the Italian team’s home race at the circuit near Milan. “I was only made aware of that record as I came into this weekend”, Hamilton said.
What this team has achieved is phenomenal and we are so fortunate to drive a vehicle like this as it was today.
Hamilton was widely expected to capture his 50th career victory and third in succession at Monza after dominating in qualifying on Saturday.
Sauber’s Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson were 18th and 19th, with the Renault’s of Jolyon Palmer and Kevin Magnussen bringing up the rear in 20th and 21st.
Senna was the last man to achieve a hat trick of Italy poles.
“I’m obviously very happy today”.
Hamilton, whose grandfather is Grenadian, said he was “incredibly proud and honoured” to have matched Senna and Fangio.
“I didn’t really damage the tires”, he insisted.
“I didn’t really damage the tyres, I just had a small lock-up into Turn One and ultimately for the race tomorrow you want everything to be ideal. The flat spot is minimal, you can’t really feel it, so I don’t think it will be a problem”. Hamilton and Rosberg’s front row lockout was Mercedes’ 41st and enabled them to equal the record of dominance set by Red Bull pairing German Sebastian Vettel and Australian Mark Webber in their heyday.
Hamilton begins Sunday’s race nine points clear of his team-mate in the championship.
Hamilton took a massive 55-place grid penalty for gearbox changes and served it in that race.
Williams’ Valtteri Bottas finished fifth with a best time of 1:22.388s, while Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo will join the Fin to occupy the third row.
Mexican Sergio Perez was eighth, ahead of his Force India team-mate German Nico Hulkenberg with Mexican Esteban Gutierrez taking 10th for Haas.
Indeed by the time Hamilton eventually took the Finn on lap 11 he was already 11 seconds behind Rosberg.
“That was my best lap of the week”, said Bottas.
“It is obviously a track you can overtake on but for some reason you need a second advantage (of speed) on the auto in front to be able to really put the overtaking maneuver into action”, Hamilton said of the storied Monza track, which has hosted more F1 racing than any other circuit.
Their closest rival, Vettel, was eight-tenths from Hamilton’s pole lap.
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“I had the pace, went back out and I was actually up, but then I lost it in the last corner”.
