Italian GP: Hamilton on pole for third year in a row at Monza

Lewis Hamilton took pole position at the Italian Grand Prix for the third year in a row on Saturday with Mercedes team-mate and title rival Nico Rosberg joining the Briton on the front row of the grid.

The pole was the 56th of the triple world champion's Formula One career and he equalled the record of five in Italy held by the late Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio and Brazilian Ayrton Senna.

Hamilton, whose pole time of one minute 21.135 seconds was nearly half a second faster than Rosberg, leads the German by nine points in the championship with eight rounds remaining. He can celebrate his 50th grand prix win on Sunday.

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel was third fastest with team mate Kimi Raikkonen fourth.