Lewis Hamilton secured pole position by a comfortable margin of just under four-tenths as he topped all three sessions to dominate team-mate Nico Rosberg and secure his first pole since the Spanish GP.
The Briton’s first run in Q3 was enough to secure him the top spot as Rosberg failed to improve by enough on his second run, eventually settling for second.
Mercedes power dominated the top six as the Williams pairing of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa start third and fourth respectively, whilst McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen outqualified Jenson Button to take the third row on the grid.
Ferrari favourite Fernando Alonso could only manage seventh, far better than team-mate Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn failed to escape Q2.
Kamui Kobayashi declared his lap “mega” as a final attempt put him ahead of both the Marussia’s for the first time in several races.
Qualifying – 2014 Italian Grand Prix
| # | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:25.363 | 1:24.560 | 1:24.109 |
| 02 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:25.493 | 1:24.600 | 1:24.383 |
| 03 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:26.012 | 1:24.858 | 1:24.697 |
| 04 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:25.528 | 1:25.046 | 1:24.865 |
| 05 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren | 1:26.337 | 1:25.973 | 1:25.314 |
| 06 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:26.328 | 1:25.630 | 1:25.379 |
| 07 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:26.514 | 1:25.525 | 1:25.430 |
| 08 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 1:26.631 | 1:25.769 | 1:25.436 |
| 09 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:26.731 | 1:25.946 | 1:25.709 |
| 10 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:26.569 | 1:25.893 | 1:25.944 |
| 11 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1:26.261 | 1:26.070 | |
| 12 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:26.689 | 1:26.110 | |
| 13 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | 1:26.140 | 1:26.157 | |
| 14 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:26.371 | 1:26.279 | |
| 15 | Adrian Sutil | Sauber | 1:27.034 | 1:26.588 | |
| 16 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber | 1.26.999 | 1:26.692 | |
| 17 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 1:27.520 | ||
| 18 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 1:27.632 | ||
| 19 | Kamui Kobayashi | Caterham | 1:27.671 | ||
| 20 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia | 1:27.738 | ||
| 21 | Max Chilton | Marussia | 1:28.247 | ||
| 22 | Marcus Ericsson | Caterham | 1:28.562 |
