Formula One leader Sebastian Vettel earned the pole position for the Italian Grand Prix with relative ease on Saturday, extending Red Bull's perfect streak of poles to all 13 races this season.
Racing on a track that has been a challenge for Red Bull in the past, Vettel was timed in 1 minute, 22.275 seconds around the high-speed Monza circuit.
Lewis Hamilton qualified second in 1:22.725 — nearly half a second behind — and his McLaren teammate Jenson Button will start third in Sunday's race after timing 1:22.777.
''We thought it was much closer than that,'' Vettel said. ''The car is very good here. We are quite quick around all three sections. I also think we have quite a good race approach, so I'm happy.''
Defending champion Fernando Alonso of Ferrari was fourth, Red Bull's Mark Webber fifth and Ferrari's Felipe Massa sixth.
Vettel became the youngest winner in F1 history at Monza in 2008 at the age of 21 with Toro Rosso but his fourth-place finish last year was Red Bull's best result in six attempts at the track.
''Normally it's not our best circuit so it's nice to be back,'' Vettel said. ''I like this track but it's been a while since I was sitting here.''
Vettel has won seven of the 12 races this season and holds a commanding 92-point lead over second-place Webber in the drivers' standings. If he wins again this weekend, Vettel could seal his second consecutive title at the next race in Singapore later this month — depending on how Webber fares.
It was Vettel's 10th pole of the year, with Webber having claimed the other three, raising the question of whether Red Bull might go for a season sweep.
''I don't care so much about that. We have to go step by step,'' Vettel said. ''So far we're doing excellent but it's not over yet.''
Nigel Mansell set the record for most poles in one season with 14 in 1992.
''The most impressive on Saturday was Ayrton Senna,'' Vettel said, referring to the late Brazilian great who held the record of 65 career poles before his fatal crash at the 1994 San Marino GP. ''That's the real benchmark.''
Qualifying was marked by dry but warm weather — the track temperature was 110 degrees — with slightly overcast skies.
With home team Ferrari having struggled all season, the seats in the main grandstand were half empty.
Alonso's victory at the British GP in July was Ferrari's only win this year.
Hamilton crashed out of the Belgian GP two weeks ago after knocking into Kamui Kobayashi's Sauber, marking the sixth accident of the year for 2008 F1 champion.
''I'm pretty happy to be back up here and have another opportunity to have a good race,'' Hamilton said.
Button added: ''When you look at the time difference between first and third in qualifying it's way more than you would have hoped for. But I think it's going to be a fun race.''
Vitaly Petrov of Renault qualified seventh and Michael Schumacher of Mercedes, who won this race a record five times when he was with Ferrari, was eighth after just barely avoiding a first-round elimination in 15th position.
The only significant accident involved Pastor Maldonado, who spun his Williams around at high-speed and lost a front wing during the opening session. But the Venezuelan managed to get back out and into phase two and qualified 14th.
With average speeds of 155 mph and top speeds of 211 mph, Monza is the fastest circuit on the calendar, as well as one of the oldest — with the Italian GP one of only four races to have survived from the first year of F1 in 1950.
The track north of Milan features slow corners followed by long, high-speed straights, which this year means drivers should get optimal use out of their drag reduction systems (DRS) — adjustable rear wings — and the KERS power boosts, perhaps setting up a race filled with overtaking.
''Fortunately, it's not so important to be on pole here as we have DRS to aid overtaking,'' Button said.
Petrov is racing with a black helmet this weekend following a Russian plane crash Wednesday that killed 43 people, mostly members of a top hockey team.
Sunday's race marks 10 years since Ferrari's cars competed with black nose cones following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
''I was going mountain biking and then I saw on TV that a plane crashed into the World Trade Center,'' Vettel said. ''But when you're 14 you don't understand too much, so I still went out biking. But it's something you'll never forget — it was the biggest tragedy during my lifetime. . . . I remember watching Ferrari race at Monza with the black cars.''
