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MONZA: Sebastian Vettel became the first driver since the late great Ayrton Senna to take pole on 10 occasions in different seasons when he posted the fastest qualifying time for Sunday's Italian Grand Prix here Saturday.
The 24-year-old defending world champion in his Red Bull car overcame a minor error in his first run to grab the 25th pole of his career and his first at Monza - the venue where he celebrated his first race win in 2008.
The runaway leader of this year's title race proved that he and Red Bull have no fear of the high-speed Autodromo Nazionale Monza, where many believed they would suffer from lack of power in a straight line against their rivals.
Vettel was fastest ahead of nearest rival Briton Lewis Hamilton of McLaren, who made a mistake on his final lap and finished up 0.450 seconds behind the flying wunderkind.
Hamilton's McLaren team-mate and compatriot Jenson Button was third ahead of two-time champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso in the leading Ferrari and fifth-placed Australian Mark Webber in the second Red Bull.
“It's Christmas - pole at Monza,” screamed Vettel's engineer Rocky during his slowing down lap.
“Yeeeees! Yes - Whoooooah,” responded the driver.
Brazilian Felipe Massa was sixth in the second Ferrari ahead of Russian Vitaly Petrov of Renault, seven times champion German Michael Schumacher, 42, a five-times Monza winner, and his Mercedes team-mate and compatriot Nico Rosberg.
Brazilian Bruno Senna - nephew of Ayrton - was 10th after Renault decided not to contest for an improved grid position for their new man.
The drama in Q2 was saved to the final minute when Senna squeezed his Renault into the top ten and - for the second successive race - pushed Briton Paul di Resta down to 11th in his Force India and out of the shootout.
For Ferrari, it was a major challenge to establish competitive grid places in front of the team's president Luca di Montezemolo, watching from the pit wall.
The Italian, seen by many as a potential president of the republic, had made clear he expected nothing less than a podium finish in Sunday's race.
Vettel, who could retain the championship this month if the results go his way, was initially quickest in Q1, but also made a mistake that saw him fighting to keep control in a spectacular power slide.
Hamilton was second at that time, but retained hopes of producing a pole lap on his second - setting up the drama of the final minutes.
