Lewis Hamilton set a blistering pace around the famous Monza circuit to secure pole position for Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix ahead of team-mate Nico Rosberg.

The 2008 world champion produced arguably the best lap of his season to date as he pipped his title rival Mercedes team-mate with an impressive 1.24.109s effort.

Hamilton posted the time early in Q3 which proved to be unbeatable despite Rosberg pushing hard towards the end of the session.

In the end, Rosberg finished just two tenths adrift of his opposite number.

Williams’ resurgence continued with the Grove squad locking out the second row with Valtteri Bottas third and Felipe Massa fourth.

McLaren confirmed that the Mercedes engine is the power unit of choice at Monza, with Kevin Magnussen just ahead of Jenson Button on the third row.

Fernando Alonso was unable to deliver in front on the passionate Ferrari fans with the Spaniard setting a time good enough for only seventh on the grid.

Red Bull struggled for outright pace throughout the weekend which continued into qualifying.

Sebastian Vettel just edged Daniel Ricciardo for eighth, while Force India’s Sergio Perez rounded out the top 10.

Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat was the first driver to miss out on securing a spot in the top 10 shootout.

However, the Russian will start from 21st on the grid after incurring a 10 place grid penalty for an engine change having exceeded the five power units allocated for the season.

Meanwhile, the big surprise was Kimi Raikkonen as he failed to progress to the Q3 in front of Ferrari’s tifosi.

After setting a promising pace in free practice, the Finn was left to rue mistakes on two flying laps. As a result, he will start from 11th on the grid.

Jean-Eric Vergne will start alongside the Ferrari in 12th ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and the Sauber duo of Adrian Sutil and Esteban Gutierrez.

Monza’s high speed nature didn’t suit Lotus with drivers Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean lining up in 16th and 17th on the grid.

On his return for Caterham, Kamui Kobayashi out-qualified his team-mate for 18th position.

The Marussia pair of Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton along with Marcus Ericsson completed the starting line up.

Italian Grand Prix Qualifying Results