Raikkonen on pole in Ferrari lock-out - Italian GP Qualifying results and summary

Kimi Raikkonen took a sensational pole on Ferrari home turf after an incredibly close qualifying between Ferrari and Mercedes. Sebastian Vettel completed the front row lock-out with Lewis Hamilton lining up third.

Grey skies threatened at the start of qualifying, the chance of rain 80% as the light went green for Q1, Charles Leclerc and Brendon Hartley hastily taking to the track whilst it was dry.

Ferrari set a lightning quick pace early on, improving lap after lap to leave Mercedes in their dust by over half a second.

A very close fight to make it into Q2 formed late on in the session with both Sauber’s, Williams’ and Stoffel Vandoorne fighting tooth and nail to make it out of the session.

Sergio Perez was the surprise name to drop out of Q1 after Force India were caught out by a sudden improvement in pace from the rest of the midfield as the entire field outside the top 5 was covered by just 0.5s.

Q2 got underway and Hamilton was straight on it with a 1:19.798s to leave one half of the Ferrari garage wondering where he gained so much time on them, Kimi Raikkonen asking his engineer if he had a tow. Vettel just beat that benchmark by 0.013s on his first run.

Vettel managed to improve on his second run, but the standout lap must go to Lance Stroll who got his Williams through into Q3 for the first time this season.

Fernando Alonso and Kevin Magnussen ended up ruining each other’s laps after racing into turns one and two leaving both drivers eliminated from the session.

A game of who will blink first ended between Ferrari and Mercedes with the Scuderia sending both of their cars out first in tight formation, Mercedes following suit seconds later.

First round went to Hamilton who set a new track record of a 1:19.390s to up the ante going into the final runs. Interestingly it was Vettel and Hamilton who were ahead of their teammates on the first run so didn’t gain the benefit of a tow.

Vettel opted again to run in front of Raikkonen going into their final flying laps but stuck very close to Hamilton on his preparation lap.

The final laps came down to the final sector and it was Raikkonen who sent the Tifosi into party mode as Ferrari locked out the front row on home soil.

Vettel lines up in second position with Hamilton in third. Valtteri Bottas lines up a distant fourth for what should be an incredible race at Monza.