MONZA, Italy (AP) β Lewis Hamilton broke Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg’s recent stranglehold on pole position by qualifying ahead of the championship leader at the Italian Grand Prix on Saturday.
Rosberg had taken four straight poles and six of the last seven.
Hamilton clocked 1 minute, 24.109 seconds at the Monza circuit, Rosberg was second in 1:24.383 and Valtteri Bottas of Williams qualified third in 1:24.697.
It’s Hamilton’s fifth pole of the season and 36th of his career.
Rosberg enters Sunday’s race with a 29-point lead over Hamilton in the drivers’ standings β the biggest it has been all season.
A big part of that gap was built in the controversial Belgian GP two weeks ago, when Rosberg finished second after crashing into Hamilton early and sending his teammate out of the incident-packed race.
