Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel go one-two ahead of Mercedes in Monza

By:  S. Harding,  Xiro Xone News  September 1, 2018  Updated:  12:13  PM PT

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Photo: Scuderia Ferrari
MONZA, Italy — Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen scored his 18th career pole position as Ferrari locked out the front row in Saturday's qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix. 

Raikkonen finished with a time of 1:19.119, setting the fastest-ever lap in Formula One history beating the previous 2004 lap record by 0.4s. Teammate Sebastian Vettel finished 0.161s behind Raikkonen in second to secure the all Ferrari front row tomorrow. 

Hoping to give the thousands of Ferrari fans a victory tomorrow, Raikkonen responded to the crowd saying "I think it couldn't be a better place to be on pole position." 
Vettel added: “Yeah, it’s unbelievable to see the amount of support around the track, so grazie a tutti. It’s a good result for the team. Not entirely happy with my last run, but yeah, I think Kimi was just a little bit too fast in the end.”

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton finished third and was 0.175s off Raikkonen with teammate Valtteri Bottas in fourth as the silver arrows locked out the second row. 

Despite the deck being stacked against him, Hamilton remains optimistic ahead of tomorrow's
race. “We gave it everything we could today and we’ll give more tomorrow.”

Max Verstappen finished fifth for Red Bull, just 1.335s off Raikkonen with the Haas of Romain
Grosjean in sixth. 

Renault’s Carlos Sainz took seventh ahead of Esteban Ocon in eighth for Force India followed by Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly in ninth and an impressive result from Williams’ Lance Stroll in tenth. 

Grosjean’s Haas teammate Kevin Magnussen finished 11th after making contact with Fernando Alonso into Turn 1. 
Sergey Sirotkin finished 12th in the second Williams. Alonso finished 13th after his scrap with Magnussen while Nico Hulkenberg finished 14th in the second Renault.  However, Hulkenberg will move to the back the grid after receiving a penalty for causing a collision at last week’s Belgian Grand Prix. 
 
Daniel Ricciardo will also head to the back of the grid once his engine penalty is applied. 

Hulkenberg and Ricciardo’s penalty will shuffle the grid.  Sergio Perez, who qualified 16th, just missing Q2 by 0.001s will now move up to 14th followed by Charles Leclerc, who also missed Q2 by 0.002s, enjoying a bump to 15th. 

Brendon Hartley will start 16th in the second Toro Rosso with Stoffel Vandoorne in 17th. Marcus Ericsson will start tomorrow's race in 18th after his massive dramatic crash during Friday’s afternoon practice. 
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