Monza,7 September

Monza was true to form, delivering a great show for the crowds that packed the grandstands for qualifying. Scuderia Ferrari finished fourth and fifth with Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso respectively.

In Q1, the two Prancing Horse cars took to the track on the Hard tyre, with the Spaniard setting a time of 1.24.661 on his first run, completing 6 laps. Massa lapped in 1.24.950 and then came out again to be on the safe side to do a run on the Medium compound, but he only did an in-out lap as it became clear a timed one was unnecessary, going through in fourteenth place.

In Q2, the two F138s ran Mediums, Alonso doing a single run to be second in 1.24.227. Massa did two runs to set the seventh time in 1.24.479.

In the final part of the session, the plan was for two runs on Mediums and on the final flying lap Alonso and Massa improved their times, even after Jean-Eric Vergne’s Toro Rosso had thrown up a cloud of dust at the Parabolica ahead of Fernando, who stopped the clock in 1.24.142. Felipe’s best lap was a 1.24.132 Sebastian Vettel took pole in 1.23.755.