• Italian Grand Prix - Qualifying

Vettel surprised by Monza dominance

Sebastian Vettel took pole position at Monza © Getty Images

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Sebastian Vettel said Red Bull did not expect to be as quick as it was in qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix after locking out the front row at Monza.

Vettel qualified on pole position by 0.2s from team-mate Mark Webber as the RB9 completely outclassed the rest of the field. Nico Hulkenberg was third fastest and 0.25s off Vettel, while the Ferraris were a further tenth adrift.

"This weekend the car has been fantastic so far and better than what we could expect," Vettel said. "We had a really strong pace yesterday and we were able to take that into qualifying today. I had two good runs but in the end it's still a bit of surprise to have two cars on the front row on a track where historically we have had bad years. This year seemed to work well and hopefully we'll have a good race tomorrow from where we start."

Vettel praised Red Bull for nailing its low-drag package at Monza this year after struggling for straight-line pace in previous years.

"We target to have the optimum every year," he added. "Obviously some years we are closer and other years we are quite far away. It seems that this year we are in a very strong position. We are able to match other cars on the straights and we know that in corners we have a strong car. It's a nice place and a nice track and very challenging to get a good lap because the downforce is very low on the car and it feels very light.

"Sliding a little bit here and there doesn't cost you as much as at other circuits, but obviously if you try too often to go over the limit there is a big penalty. But we managed to get through and get a great result."

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