Bridgestone’s soft tyre carried Lewis Hamilton (Vodafone McLaren Mercedes) to his second pole position of the season for tomorrow’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

Hamilton set a time of 1min 24.066secs in the last moments of a very close qualifying session. Force India F1 Team driver Adrian Sutil was second fastest and also earlier set the fastest time in the morning practice session, using the soft Bridgestone Potenza.

Q&A with Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development

What was significant about today’s running?
“Today we had an interesting result in qualifying and I think that the difference in lap times in Q3 means that there will be different fuel strategies for tomorrow’s race. The times through the day, apart from in Q3, were very close so competitors are using our tyres well here in Monza. Congratulations to Lewis for his second pole of the year, to Adrian for getting on the front row, and also to Vitantonio Liuzzi for qualifying in the top ten on his return to Formula One.”

What are the tyre strategy considerations for tomorrow’s race?
“Both the soft and medium Potenza have worked well here at Monza so far this weekend and we have no reason to expect any issues in the race. We have not seen graining and there has not been blistering either. This means that strategy options are very open. A one stop strategy is possible with our tyres so it will be interesting to see if this is used.”