Championship leader unable to shine in the wet as tyre gamble drops him to the eighth row in Monza.

Lewis Hamilton might just be wishing stewards had dealt him the lesser of the two penalties considered in Belgium after a disastrous showing in qualifying for Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix.

Felipe Massa:
“A very difficult qualifying but, overall, I am reasonably happy. It’s true it could have been better, but it could also have been much worse. I am ahead of my main rivals in the fight for the championship and I still have a good grid position therefore. Today, especially in Q2, conditions were very critical with aquaplaning at various points and visibility was also poor, especially in traffic and the situation got worse and worse. I still managed to improve my time and make it through to Q3, which was important. Tomorrow I must try and finish as high up the order as possible and get some points. It will be a very tough race, but we can rely on a very competitive car.”

HEIKKI KOVALAINEN
“A really close session; I missed pole by just .076 seconds. My first attempt in Q3 wasn’t perfect and further rain later in the session made it almost impossible to improve. On my final run, I gave it everything but there wasn’t enough grip to beat Sebastian Vettel. But congratulations to him on his first pole. Nevertheless, second on the grid is still a good basis for tomorrow; our car has shown good pace in both the wet and the dry so I’m feeling confident.”

Webber takes fight to STR, but can’t stop Vettel

A late qualifying effort against the grain of worsening conditions, vaulted Mark Webber onto the second row of the grid in Monza giving the Red Bull family further cause for celebration ahead of Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix.

Nico Rosberg paved the way for celebrations in Williams’ 500th Grand Prix tomorrow after pulling out a sensational lap in the wet to go fifth quickest in Monza.

The German youngster was one of a handful of drivers to set a quick lap at the beginning of Q2 before the conditions worsened, catching out Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen.

Jubilation at Toro Rosso, despair at McLaren as rain shakes up the pecking order in Monza.

An ecstatic Sebastian Vettel clinched pole position in Monza after heavy showers shook up the running in qualifying and left Lewis Hamilton languishing down in fifteenth place

Torrential rain wrecked havoc with the teams pre-qualifying preparations in Monza, leaving early pace-setter Timo Glock on the top of the time sheets.

Showers from the south of the circuit arrived just in time for the start of Saturday practice and conditions quickly deteriorated.

His title hopes may have taken a knock when he went crashing into the wall in Belgium, but defending world champion Kimi Raikkonen did enough damage in the laps preceding his controversial run-in with Lewis Hamilton, it would seem, to convince his employees of his long-term credentials and hunger for Formula One.