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F1: Lewis Hamilton on pole with a two-stop pit strategy

9-12-2009

by Auto123.com

From GMM

Lewis Hamilton took pole position at Monza, but an hour after qualifying it had already emerged that he will make an extra pitstop in the Italian grand prix.

The FIA will confirm the news with the official race-start fuel weights later on Saturday afternoon, but it is certain that the reigning world champion headed into Q3 with a two-stop race strategy.

"I don't think we anticipated to be as quick this weekend," said the McLaren driver, who said he is looking forward to seeing the car weight list.

Championship leader Jenson Button, on the other hand, will stop just once on Sunday, meaning he was happy with his sixth position, one place behind his Brawn teammate Rubens Barrichello.

The two title-charging Red Bulls were the slowest cars in Q3.

"Sixth is a good position. We're heavy," Button told the BBC, and his boss Ross Brawn agreed that fifth and sixth leaves the Brackley team in a "perfect position" for the race.

It is believed that Adrian Sutil, Kimi Raikkonen and Heikki Kovalainen - the other three cars ahead of the Brawns - will also make two pitstops at Monza.

Meanwhile, Hamilton appeared to block Sebastien Buemi in Q1, but Toro Rosso seemed unlikely to take the matter to the stewards, with Giorgio Ascanelli admitting his cars are at the back of the grid because "we deserved to be".

Monza Qualifying Results:


1. row
Lewis Hamilton (McLaren MP4/24-Mercedes) - 1'24"066 - Q3
Adrian Sutil (Force India VJM02-Mercedes) - 1'24"261 - Q3
2. row
Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari F60) - 1'24"523 - Q3
Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren MP4/24-Mercedes) - 1'24"845 - Q3
3. row
Rubens Barrichello (Brawn BGP001-Mercedes) - 1'25"015 - Q3
Jenson Button (Brawn BGP001-Mercedes) - 1'25"030 - Q3
4. row
Vitantonio Liuzzi (Force India VJM02-Mercedes) - 1'25"043 - Q3
Fernando Alonso (Renault R29) - 1'25"072 - Q3
5. row
Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull RB5-Renault) - 1'25"180 - Q3
Mark Webber (Red Bull RB5-Renault) - 1'25"314 - Q3
6. row
Jarno Trulli (Toyota TF109) - 1'23"611 - Q2
Romain Grosjean (Renault R29) - 1'23"728 - Q2
7. row
Robert Kubica (BMW F1.09) - 1'23"866 - Q2
Giancarlo Fisichella (Ferrari F60) - 1'23"901 - Q2
8. row
Nick Heidfeld (BMW F1.09) - 1'24"275 - Q2
Timo Glock (Toyota TF109) - 1'24"036 - Q1
9. row
Kazuki Nakajima (Williams FW31-Toyota) - 1'24"074 - Q1
Nico Rosberg (Williams FW31-Toyota) - 1'24"121 - Q1
10. row
Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso STR4-Ferrari) - 1'24"220 - Q1
Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso STR4-Ferrari) - 1'24"951 - Q1*

*Five place penalty for unauthorized change on the car

**Unofficial Results**