Hamilton takes pole

Lewis Hamilton will start the Belgian Grand Prix from pole position, having qualified just a tenth of a second ahead of Jenson Button for a McLaren one-two at Monza.

Championship leader Fernando Alonso had been fastest in the first and second qualifying sessions, but it all went wrong in Q3. A mechanical failure on his car meant that he was 1.4 seconds slower in the final top 10 shoot-out than in the previous sessions, and he will start a disappointing 10th on the grid.

It wasn't all bad news for Ferrari, though, as Felipe Massa pulled off his best qualifying performance of the year. The Brazilian driver will start Ferrari's home race from third, alongside his former teammate Michael Schumacher.

Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel will start fifth, ahead of Nico Rosberg. Kimi Raikkonen managed seventh for Lotus, and will start alongside Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi.

Also impressive was Paul di Resta, who managed a couple of stunning laps to finish the session fourth fastest. He will start the race alongside Alonso, following a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change.

Red Bull's Mark Webber narrowly missed out on a spot in the top 10, and will start from 11th on the grid.

Jerome D'Ambrosio - who is standing in for Romain Grosjean following the Frenchman's one-race ban for causing the incident at the beginning of last weekend's Belgian Grand Prix - battled his way into Q2, but could only manage 16th on the grid. He will start the race sandwiched between the Toro Rossos of Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne.

Pastor Maldonado was 12th fastest but will start the race from 22nd on the grid, just behind the HRT of Narain Karthikeyen. The Williams driver was handed two five-place penalties for jumping the start at Spa and for causing a collision later in the race.

The biggest casualty of the day was Nico Hulkenberg, though, who's session came to an abrupt end just as he was starting on his first flying lap. He stopped at the chicane without setting a timed lap.

This means that Hulkenberg is the only driver not to have met the 107 per cent requirements, and will only race at the stewards discretion.

2012 Italian Grand Prix grid

107 per cent time: 1'30.067

* Five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change** Two five-place grid penalties for incidents during the Belgian Grand Prix*** Did not meet the 107 per cent requirements and will race at the stewards discretion