Lewis Hamilton claims record 69th pole in rain soaked Italian qualifying

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton secured his record 69^th pole position in Saturday's rain delayed qualifying session at the Monza circuit in Italy.

After equally Michael Schumacher's all time record last time out in Belgium with 68, the British driver went on to secure pole number 69 in a qualifying session that suffered lengthy delays due to torrential rain. Due to the fast nature of the circuit and the amount of standing water that was on the track, Q1 was delayed by almost two and three quarter hours. The session started on time however after Romain Grosjean's Haas hit the barriers five minutes in; the session was suspended on safety grounds.

Hamilton had set a quick time in that opening five minutes and continued his fine form when the session restarted. The majority of qualifying then ran as normal until heavy rain returned toward the end of Q3.

“It wasn't quite a perfect conclusion but we enjoyed a very strong session and have every prospect of a good race tomorrow,” said Mercedes man James Alison. “Lewis was in imperious form throughout the rather elongated session, and Valtteri too although things didn't go as well for him in Q3.”

“But he will have a strong race tomorrow. It was a terrific job from the strategists and race team to put the drivers out on the right piece of track, and the right tyres, during each part of qualifying. Overall, a very good all-round team performance on a day that required maximum concentration.”

Max Verstappen was a pleasing second for Red Bull racing with teammate Daniel Ricciardo in third, however, due to the fact that both men from Milton Keyenes have grid penalties, it will be fourth placed man, Lance Stroll on the front row alongside Hamilton for the start of Sunday's race.

It was a brilliant performance from the 18 year old Williams driver, who now claims the record previously held by Verstappen as the youngest driver to ever start from the front row of the grid.

Fifth fastest was the Force India of Esteban Ocon, who is now promoted the third, while Valtteri Bottas, who qualified sixth, will start from fourth on the grid.

The two Ferrari's of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel struggled in the wet conditions and qualified seventh and eighth fastest respectively, however thanks to the two Red Bull penalties, will start fifth and sixth.

Felipe Massa and Stoffel Vandoorne rounded out the top ten of the session, however they too will be promoted to 7^th and 8^th on the grid while Sergio Perez and Dani Kyvatt will also benefit and round out the top ten.

How they qualified:

*Indicates penalties

How the top ten will start:
1) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
2) Lance Stroll, Williams
3) Esteban Ocon, Force India
4) Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes
5) Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari
6) Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari
7) Felipe Massa, Williams
8) Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren
9) Sergio Perez, Force India
10) Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso