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Lewis Hamilton claimed his seventh pole position in nine races this season at the first Tuscan Grand Prix.
The world champion outscored his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas by just 0.059 seconds in the first ever competitive Formula 1 experience at the spectacular Mugello circuit.
Red Bull blocked the second row, Max Verstappen ahead of Alex Albon.
And Charles Leclerc gave Ferrari something to celebrate in his 1,000th grand prix with fifth place.
Hamilton does it when it matters
Bottas had led all three practice sessions and Hamilton appeared to be on the defensive heading into qualifying.
But Hamilton was fastest in the second session by 0.013 seconds and extended his margin in the opening laps of the top-10 run.
Hamilton did not improve on his final lap, and Bottas’ hopes of doing so were dashed when Renault’s Esteban Ocon spun and produced yellow flags.
Hamilton said: “It’s been very close this weekend. This is a really challenging circuit and Valtteri was faster than me all day yesterday and this morning and even in Q1.”
“I’ve been working really hard in the background to improve my lines and set-up and finally got the lap I needed.
“In the end, I think the wind picked up and I couldn’t go faster. But I did the job.
“It’s crazy. You go through turns six, seven, eight and nine at 180 mph and the G-force is crazy.”
Bottas said he felt the Ocon incident had cost him pole position since the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone last month.
The Finn said: “I still had more and was waiting for the moment to get it right, but I didn’t get the chance. It sure is disappointing.”
Verstappen’s margin at Red Bull was the smallest he has had on pole position all year.
“I didn’t expect to fight in qualifying, but this weekend looks very promising,” he said. “Being third we can be very happy with that.”
Leclerc in top form
Leclerc had said before the weekend that he expected Ferrari to be stronger on the track than they possess after two disappointing shows at Spa and Monza, but he did not expect to be the best of the rest.
He was more than 0.5 seconds faster than his four-time champion teammate Sebastian Vettel, who qualified 14th.
“I felt a little better,” Leclerc said. “Very happy with my last lap. P5 is definitely the best we could do. Overall, very happy with the car. With the balance, we did a good job this weekend compared to Monza where we have been struggling enormously. Today. It was one of the strengths of the car.
“The race is going to be tough, but at least we have the position and now it’s up to us to keep it.”
Leclerc led the Racing Points, with Sergio Pérez ahead of Lance Stroll despite the fact that the Canadian benefited from a new body package that the Mexican, who was informed before the weekend that he would be fell in favor of Vettel by 2021, It won’t come until the next race in Russia.
Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren’s Carlos Sainz and Ocon completed the top 10, with Lando Norris in second McLaren in 11th.
‘When in doubt, flat out’: Russell’s bravery
George Russell, who missed the entire final practice session with a brake problem, put in an outstanding performance to overtake teammate Nicholas Latifi for 18th place despite running wide and bouncing on gravel and grass in the departure of the ultrafast Savelli right-hander.
Russell kept his foot on the ground during the moment and entered Arrabbiata’s disappointing right double and slipped ahead of Latifi by 0.088 seconds. In doing so, he maintained his record of never being beaten by a teammate in F1.
Russell said he had taken Casanova to the start of the flat left-right corner for the first time all weekend and thought he would try to make turn seven flat as well, adding: “That was a bit stupid to be honest.”
“I have no idea [how I kept it on track]”continued Russell, revealing that the team had cut down on the car’s downforce level prior to qualifying.” When in doubt, bluntly.
“I knew Nicholas was ahead of me in the previous two races and I knew that if I didn’t finish the last lap, he was going to finish before me. I kept him immobilized, damaged the diffuser quite a bit. Q2 was definitely on. . “
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