Vettel Takes P1 In Monza. For A Second Time

As Sebastian took pole this afternoon the first thing on most people’s minds was that this track, and that race in 2008, are rather special to him

But the differences between his maiden P1 for Toro Rosso and today are huge. The weather conditions, his team, his status as a driver and the manner in which it was executed are all far from similar. Then he was younger, it was wet and he wasn’t world champion.

But nevertheless, it is another pole position for Vettel (his 25th to date) and one which his closest rival, Lewis Hamilton was frankly incredulous about in the subsequent press conference.

Mark opted to complete one flying lap in the final session, making his run plan perhaps less easy, but the advantage is there are more tyre options open for tomorrow.

But for Christian, who has never won here as team principal, and who stated that the Italian Grand Prix and victory at Monza is on his F1 To-Do List, getting one of his drivers on the front row was a giant step in the right direction.

In fact, it was more than that: “To achieve pole position in Monza is unbelievable and completely unexpected,” said Christian. “It was a phenomenal last lap from Sebastian to achieve pole with an almost staggering margin. Mark elected to adopt a different strategy for Q3 and maybe, with hindsight, two runs would have been preferable. However, he retains a new set of tyres for the race and we hope to have a very good race day. It’s testimony to all the hard work that’s gone into this Monza package at a track that’s been notoriously tough for us and it’s a perfect start to the weekend.”

And for the reigning world champion, ever the master of the understatement, he said: “This year, the car is very good and I’m very happy.”

Source: Red Bull