Formula 1 News

2008 Italian Grand Prix, Qualifying: first career pole position for Vettel 

Toro Rosso‘s young German driver Sebastian Vettel, has taken his first career pole position for Sunday’s 2008 Italian Grand Prix at the Autodromo di Monza circuit in Italy, under extremely difficult weather conditions as, just like in the practice session, heavy rain fell on the track making the track’s surface very slippery. The German, with today’s pole position, broke at the same time three records: first career pole, first pole for Scuderia Toro Rosso and he became the youngest driver in Formula 1 history to get a pole position.

McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen, the only one among the bigs to finish in the top spots, will took the start tomorrow from P2 – next to Vettel – ahead of Red Bull’s Mark Webber P3, STR’s Sebastien Bourdais P4, Williams’ Nico Rosberg P5 and Ferrari’s Felipe Massa P6. The Brazilian, during Q2, made a real miracle by qualifying to Q3 under the heavy rain: he grabbed the tenth place with just 0.021 seconds ahead of Robert Kubica. In Q3, however, he was able to improve and came up sixth.

Big names such as Robert Kubica, Kimi Raikkonen and championship leader Lewis Hamilton got knocked out in Q2 failing to enter the top ten. The reigning world champion has struggled on the wet track finishing up to P14, while the Briton took the track too late during Q2 – just when the rain became heavier – and finished only on P15.

2008 Italian Grand Prix, Qualifying Session results: