Mercedes AMG Petronas
Lewis Hamilton says it is a 'relief' to have had a clean qualifying session as he claimed pole position for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, ahead of Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg.
Hamilton has endured a series of setbacks on Saturdays in recent races but dominated qualifying at Monza to take his first pole since May's Spanish Grand Prix.
"It's a great feeling to be on pole here at Monza and I'm really excited for the race tomorrow," he said.
"It's also a relief to have had a clean qualifying session, my first for quite a while! Big thanks to my guys in the garage, I'm very proud of the way they've worked this year and dealt with all our ups and downs, they've done a great job.
"It's business as usual tomorrow, we're free to race and I hope we get a strong result for the team, hopefully a one-two. The other Mercedes-powered cars are looking strong here as well so it should be an exciting race."
Mercedes's Paddy Lowe praised Hamilton's efforts.
"There were a lot of competitive cars out there today, especially the Williams, so we needed the drivers to put together some stunning laps - and that's exactly what they did," he said.
"Lewis put together an extraordinary lap on his first run in Q3, then Nico was almost matching that on his second run, if it had not been for a small snap in the Ascari chicane."
