Italian GP Qualifying: Lewis Hamilton Pips Valtteri Bottas To Claim Eighth Pole In Monza

Lewis Hamilton pipped his teammate Valterri Bottas to clinch the pole for an all-time record eight times in Monza as Carlo Sainz delivered a stunning third fastest for McLaren. 

Bottas was off to claim the pole but his lead was canceled by Hamilton who edged him out by 0.069sec for his 94th career pole in a close-shave victory as he led the top three of the driver standings by not more than eight-tenth of a second. 

However, it was not the very best race expected of Ferrari as Sebastian Vettel disappointingly dropped out in Q1 while his teammate fared better but finished below the top 10 to be 13th. In the midst of this, McLaren Lando Norris managed to keep his head afloat finishing sixth. 

"It was just an incredible performance this weekend, this is the best we have ever been here, we really put the in a sweet spot," said Hamilton who also delivered the fastest lap in F1 history in 1:18.887s - which is an average of 264.3km/hr - in the last lap and pipped Bottas to the pole. 

Ferrari is gradually sliding off relevance unlike they were last season as they for the first time since 1984 failed to qualify for the Italian GP final below the top 10 standing.

Max Verstappen was beating by Racing Point's Sergio Perez to the fourth position while theRed Bull driver who has been impressive this season trail behind in fifth place. 

Daniel Ricciardo could not follow his performance from the Belgian GP and finished seventh, Racing Point's Lando Stroll followed in the eighth position while Alexander Albon and Pierre Gasly made the last two of the top 10 for Red Bull and Alpha Tauri respectively.