Lewis Hamilton (Grid 1)This is a fabulous day for the whole team - theyve done a fantastic job to get our car into this position, so I want to say a huge thanks to them. The whole Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team deserves this result. Its going to be a fast, tough race tomorrow. Jenson and the Ferraris are very quick, but weve got a good car and a good set-up, and were in the best possible position to score maximum points tomorrow. This is a beautiful track; its so fast that you really need to respect it. Monza has such great history too, and, at some stage, Id love to become part of that history. For the moment, though, Im just looking for a strong, consistent race tomorrow, because I need to score some good points. Finally, I just want to pass on my best wishes and congratulations to my friend Alex Zanardi. Alex is not only one of the most courageous men I know, but hes also one of the nicest, and his gold medal successes at the Paralympics over the past few days have been incredibly inspiring.
Jenson Button (Grid 2)Its been a really good day for us. Congratulations to Lewis and the whole team - theyve done a fabulous job to get us in this position and weve got to build on that tomorrow. Happily, were in the best position possible: the past few races have really shown the strength of our car. We didnt consider trying to tow each other around as some of the others did - its a difficult thing to get right and if you get it wrong you end up being compromised elsewhere around the lap. I dont think tomorrows race will be all about the start - you want to get a good run into Turn One, admittedly, but if you try to plan something too ambitious, it often doesnt work. There havent been any first-corner incidents at the front of the grid for the last couple of years here, so Lewis and I will just be focusing on getting our two cars out of the first corner in front of all the others.
Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren team principalIm extremely proud of the entire Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team, all of whose members have worked incredibly hard to develop our car so well over the year. Todays front-row lock-out is an appropriate reward for all their efforts. In fact, Im told that we now hold the record for the highest number of front-row lock-outs in Formula One history, which is quite an achievement. So I want to say a big well done not only to the men and women who have worked so hard to make our car quick here today, but also to the men and women who have worked equally hard, going back through 46 long years, ever since McLaren first entered a world championship Grand Prix in 1966. But tomorrow is what counts, and Im glad to say that we got quite a lot of race prep work done yesterday, so were hoping to be in pretty good shape for the race. Returning to today, though, both Lewis and Jenson drove immaculately, capitalising on our cars impressive pace in sectors one and two, and optimising its capabilities also in sector three, where it was slightly less competitive relative to our opposition. Doing that may have looked easy for them, but it wasnt. In fact they both had to keep their nerve towards the end of their fastest laps. Well done, boys. Tomorrows race will be fast and hard, too. Bring it on!
1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m24.010s2. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m24.133s 3. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m24.247s 4. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m24.304s 5. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m24.540s 6. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m24.802s 7. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m24.833s 8. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m24.855s 9. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m25.109s 1. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m25.678s
Q2 Gap *11 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m24.809s 12 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m24.820s 13 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m24.901s 14 Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m25.042s 15 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m25.312s 16 Jerome d'Ambrosio Lotus-Renault 1m25.408s 17 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m25.441s
Q1 Gap **18 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m26.382s 19 Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m26.887s 20 Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m27.039s 21 Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m27.073s 22 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m27.441s 23 Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m27.629s 24 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes no time
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