Fernando Alonso handed Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro a home pole position using Bridgestone's soft compound Potenza tyre in searing hot temperatures at Monza for the Italian Grand Prix.

Alonso set a 1min 21.962secs for his and Ferrari's first pole position this season. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton was fastest in the morning, using the soft compound Bridgestone Potenza.

Bridgestone Motorsport yesterday received a special prize for contributions and achievements in motorsport. Director of Bridgestone Motorsport, Hiroshi Yasukawa, was presented the prize from the Organizing Committee of the Confartigianato Motor Prize (28° edition).

Hiroshi Yasukawa -Director of Bridgestone Motorsport says:
"I am honoured to receive the special prize for Bridgestone Motorsport's contributions and achievements in motorsport from the Organizing Committee of the Confartigianato Motor Prize. This was a proud moment for me at Bridgestone's final Grand Prix in Europe. Congratulations to Fernando for pole position here, a Ferrari on the front row in Monza is always very emotional."

Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development says:
"Today we saw an exciting qualifying battle and the Italian fans must be very happy with a Ferrari pole position thanks to a great lap by Fernando. Although we saw drivers' fastest laps set on the soft compound the lap time difference between the two compounds here is not very big. This leaves good strategy options for tomorrow's race and there is also good interest with different car set-ups on the grid. Even though we have seen high track and ambient temperatures, both of our allocated compounds look to offer strong performance over a stint duration. In terms of strategy, I predict first stops around lap 14, however even those in the top ten who will start on used option tyres could go much further than this without significant performance drop off should they choose to do so."

Stats of the Day 
Practice Three 10:00 - 11:00
Driver             Team                 Time        Tyre
Lewis Hamilton     Vodafone McLaren 	1m 22.498s  S
Sebastian Vettel   Red Bull Racing 	1m 22.545s  S
Fernando Alonso    Scuderia Ferrari	1m 22.644s  S

Qualifying 14:00 - 15:00
Driver             Team                 Time        Tyre
Fernando Alonso    Scuderia Ferrari 	1m 21.962s  S
Jenson Button      Vodafone McLaren	1m 22.084s  S
Felipe Massa 	   Scuderia Ferrari	1m 22.293s  S

Compounds used: Hard (prime) / Soft (option)

Temperatures 	 Ambient     Track	 Weather
AM - Practice 3  23C 	     31C-33C 	 Sunny
PM - Qualifying  27C 	     37C-38C 	 Sunny