Italian Grand Prix: Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen sets all-time fastest lap record

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen celebrates after bagging pole position during the Italian GP qualifying on Saturday. Pic/AFP

Kimi Raikkonen smashed Formula One's all-time fastest lap record as he outpaced teammate Sebastian Vettel to grab pole position on Saturday for the Italian Grand Prix.

Ferrari locked out the front row of the grid with a blitz of speed that left defending champion and current leader Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes third, despite twice beating the record set at Monza by Colombian Juan-Pablo Montoya, in a Williams, in 2004.

Raikkonen's record lap was clocked in one minute and 19.119 seconds at an average speed of 263.586 kph (163.785 mph). He was one-tenth of a second faster than both Vettel and Hamilton who set up a memorable three-way finale in a dramatic session, all of them setting records along the way. Valtteri Bottas was fourth for Mercedes ahead of Max Verstappen of Red Bull and Romain Grosjean of Haas. Carlos Sainz was seventh for Renault ahead of Esteban Ocon of Force India, Pierre Gasly of Toro Rosso and Lance Stroll of Williams.

It was Ferrari's first pole on home soil at Monza for Ferrari since 2010 and Raikkonen's first pole in 12 years. At 38, he also became the oldest pole sitter since Nigel Mansell, aged, 41, took pole for the 1994 Australian Grand Prix.

Catch up on all the latest sports news and updates here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever