Mercedes' Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain (C) celebrates after getting the pole position at the Italian F1 Grand Prix in Monza Friday. Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen (R) of Finland was second and teammate Sebastian Vettel of Germany third. — Reuters MONZA, Italy — Lewis Hamilton extended his recent stranglehold on pole position in Formula One, while Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel gave Ferrari fans something to cheer about at their home Italian Grand Prix by qualifying second and third Saturday. Hamilton's Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg qualified only fourth after reverting to an old engine. Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel gave Ferrari fans something to cheer about at their home race by qualifying second and third, respectively. It was Hamilton's seventh straight pole and 11th in 12 races this season, with Rosberg beating him only in Spain. Ayrton Senna set the record of eight consecutive poles in 1988-89. “It's nice to see that we have a good fight,” said Hamilton, the championship leader. “It's a long run down to turn one and these guys have pace.” It's Raikkonen's first front-row start since China in 2013. “We surprised ourselves a little bit,” Raikkonen said. “It's been a while so it's nice to be here, especially at the home race for us.” In perfect conditions following a morning thunderstorm, throngs of red-clad Ferrari blew air horns and waved flags featuring the team's prancing horse logo. Hamilton clocked 1 minute, 23.397 seconds around the Monza circuit. Raikkonen was 0.234 behind and Vettel was 0.288 back. Rosberg, who was a further 18 hundredths behind, went back to the motor he used in Spa two weeks ago following an unspecified problem on his new power unit. Hamilton holds a 28-point lead over Rosberg, with Vettel 67 points back in third. The result moved Mercedes within one of Williams' record of 24 straight poles, set in 1992 and 1993 with Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost and Damon Hill. The last time Mercedes didn't take pole came at last year's Austrian GP, when Felipe Massa of Williams took the first spot on the grid. Massa and Williams teammate Valtteri Bottas qualified fifth and sixth, respectively, followed by Sergio Perez of Force India in seventh and Romain Grosjean of cash-strapped Lotus in eighth. Nico Hulkenberg in the other Force India was ninth and Sauber's Marcus Ericsson rounded out the top 10, although the Swede was under investigation for an impeding incident with Hulkenberg. Pastor Maldonado of Lotus and Felipe Nasr of Sauber were eliminated in Q2, along with three drivers facing grid penalties for engine changes: Carlos Sainz of Toro Rosso, and Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull. Ricciardo didn't even enter the track in Q2. McLaren's problems continued as Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso were eliminated in Q1, while Max Verstappen failed to record a time after the engine cover of his Toro Rosso flew off. Plagued by mechanical problems all weekend, Toro Rosso only got Verstappen onto the track in the final seconds of the 18-minute session. Hamilton stunned at McLaren's fall Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton, who won his first title with McLaren in 2008, says he is shocked at how far the sport's second most successful team has fallen since he left for Mercedes. Woking-based McLaren has not won a race since 2012 while Hamilton's title, making him at the time the youngest champion in the sport, remains its most recent. “It doesn't look like a McLaren,” Hamilton said at the Italian Grand Prix when asked whether he did a double-take when, as has happened frequently this season, he lapped Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button. “It feels very weird when you look at the board and you think of this historic team, which is fighting with Marussia. And Marussia is relatively close on maybe a third of the budget or whatever. Maybe an eighth. “It just doesn't make sense. I still can't believe today that the team has got to that point,” he told British reporters. McLaren started a new partnership with Honda this season but the Japanese V6 turbo hybrid power unit has had a troubled debut. McLaren is ninth of 10 teams and have scored just 17 points so far. Hamilton, winner of six Grands Prix this year and on pole 11 times in 12 rounds, scored more points in the first race alone than McLaren have all year. His current 2015 tally of 227 points is more than McLaren scored with both drivers in 2014. Along the way they have picked up record penalties — 105 places alone in Belgium on a grid with only 20 cars — and started on the back row. Hamilton, whose early career was funded by McLaren and then-partners Mercedes, said the positive news was that things could only get better. — Agencies
