F1: Vettel leads Red Bull 1-2 at Monza

Sebastian Vettel claimed pole position for the Italian Grand Prix as all his Formula 1 championship rivals made a mess of their qualifying sessions.

Fernando Alonso could only qualify fifth amid failed attempts at slipstreaming tactics by Ferrari, while neither Lewis Hamilton nor Kimi Raikkonen made it into the top 10.

Mark Webber, meanwhile, made it a Red Bull one-two, while an astounding effort from Nico Hulkenberg gave the struggling Sauber team a shock third place on the grid.

Ferrari had experimented with its drivers giving each other slipstreams in final practice, but its efforts to orchestrate the same strategy in Q3 fell apart.

The cars were never close enough to make the tactic work and appeared to end up spoiling each other's laps. Felipe Massa eventually found himself fourth ahead of Alonso.

Webber looked to have a shot at pipping Vettel right at the end, but was first on the scene as Jean-Eric Vergne's Toro Rosso ploughed through the Parabolica gravel.

That left Vettel clearly on pole with a 1m23.755s lap, 0.2 seconds quicker than his team-mate.

Although Adrian Sutil is being investigated for impeding Hamilton's Mercedes at the Parabolica at the end of Q2, the Briton blamed poor driving on his part for the qualifying result.

Lotus appeared to be simply short of pace, with Raikkonen and team-mate Romain Grosjean only 11th and 13th.

While they all underperformed, Hulkenberg starred with a Q3 lap just 0.037s off Webber's Red Bull and ahead of the Ferraris and Nico Rosberg's Mercedes.

Toro Rosso got two cars in Q3, with Daniel Ricciardo seventh but Vergne's mistake leaving him 10th.

The two McLarens start behind them, Sergio Perez outqualifying Jenson Button.

Sutil is currently 14th, pending any penalty. Force India looked in jeopardy of a Q1 exit until late improvements for both drivers, but there was little progress in Q2.

Paul di Resta ended up 16th, just behind fellow late Q1 escapee Pastor Maldonado.

Rookies Esteban Gutierrez and Valtteri Bottas were ultimately the drivers who joined the Caterhams and Marussias at the back.

Pos Driver                Team                 Time           Gap   
 1. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m23.755s
 2. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m23.968s  +0.213s
 3. Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari       1m24.065s  +0.310s
 4. Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m24.132s  +0.377s
 5. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m24.142s  +0.387s
 6. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m24.192s  +0.437s
 7. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m24.209s  +0.454s
 8. Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes     1m24.502s  +0.747s
 9. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m24.515s  +0.760s
10. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m28.050s  +4.295s
Q2 cut-off time: 1m24.776s                                   Gap **
11. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m24.610s  +0.633s
12. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes             1m24.803s  +0.826s
13. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m24.848s  +0.871s
14. Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes 1m24.932s  +0.955s
15. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m25.011s  +1.034s
16. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m25.077s  +1.100s
Q1 cut-off time: 1m25.030s                                   Gap *
17. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari       1m25.226s  +0.907s
18. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault     1m25.291s  +0.972s
19. Giedo van der Garde   Caterham-Renault     1m26.406s  +2.087s
20. Charles Pic           Caterham-Renault     1m26.563s  +2.244s
21. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Cosworth    1m27.085s  +2.766s
22. Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth    1m27.480s  +3.161s


107% time: 1m30.221s

* Gap to quickest in Q1

** Gap to quickest in Q2