Sebastian Vettel: "The car was fantastic"

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel has expressed his delight at the condition of his car during this afternoon's qualification phase for the Italian Grand Prix.

The German's time of 1:23.859 was enough to give him pole position at a track from which he has emerged victorious on two previous occasions.

"It's a special track. always nice to come back here. My memories of 2008 are great. I had another win in 2011 but your first win is always special. This weekend, the car was fantastic," he told BBC Sport. "We had a really strong pace yesterday and we were able to take that into qualifying today.

"In the end, it's a bit of a surprise to have both cars on front row at a place historically we've had bad years. This year seems to work well and hopefully we'll have a good race tomorrow. We're able to match other cars down the straight and we know in corners, we have a strong car."

Vettel currently holds a 46-point lead at the top of the standings.