Hamilton humbles rivals and equals records
 

Monza, Italy: A happy Lewis Hamilton humbled his rivals on Saturday as he joined two of motor racing´s legendary drivers in the record books by securing a dominant pole position for Sunday´s Italian Grand Prix.

The ****** leader and three-time defending champion was in untouchable form during a coruscating performance in qualifying as he outpaced Mercedes team-mate and title rival German Nico Rosberg by almost half a second.

Ferrari, with new updated power units, were also left gasping in pursuit with four-time champion German Sebastian Vettel, who was third ahead of team-mate Finn Kimi Raikkonen, admitting "those guys ahead look like they´re in a world of their own".

Rosberg´s face and his struggle to explain the size of Hamilton´s advantage was telling evidence of the 31-year-old Briton´s supremacy as he drew alongside Juan Manuel Fangio and Ayrton Senna as a five-time pole-sitter at the famous old Autodromo Nazionale.

"Lewis did some good laps and that was it," said Rosberg. "I had a good weekend until **w - I just wasn´t quick e**ugh... Lewis had his best qualifying for a long time."

Hamilton has **w taken three successive Italian poles, five in all to equal Argentine Fangio and Brazilian Senna and 56 in his career as he seeks to complete a hat-trick of Monza victories and to register his 50th career victory in Sunday´s race, the last in Europe this season.

Hamilton´s best lap in one minute and 21.135 seconds was **t only nearly half a second faster than Rosberg, but also more than 2.2 seconds quicker than the pole lap time he clocked last year.

Hamilton and Rosberg´s front row lockout was Mercedes´ 41st and enabled them to equal the record of dominance set by Red Bull pairing German Sebastian Vettel and Australian Mark Webber in their heyday.

Hamilton leads Rosberg by nine points in the title race and will start on Sunday as favourite to enlarge that cushion because the last six Italian races, at the high-speed Monza track, have been won from pole.

Finn Valtteri Bottas was fifth for Williams ahead of Australian Daniel Ricciardo and his Red Bull team-mate Dutch teenager Max Verstappen.

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