Lewis, the man who you had to beat was your former Formula Three team-mate Adrian Sutil and it was very close.
Lewis Hamilton: It was, it was. It was a very close qualifying session and I am very happy to see Adrian up here. Since Formula Three it has been a long time since we were in a press conference together and they are incredibly fast and very competitive. The team did a great job this weekend and the car was very good. I was able to put the lap together which is such a great feeling when you can put one single lap together. I think the public and everyone can just try to imagine what it is like. You have got one single shot at it at the end and it is the most exciting, exhilarating thing, so to finally pull it off and get it on pole it is almost like the first time. I am very happy.

What a great recovery for the team. From the outside looking in, Spa and Monza are both very fast circuits but here a different car from your point of view.
LH: I guess we have to wait and see what the strategies are for everyone tomorrow. But we feel quite comfortable in the position which we needed to be in. I don't think we anticipated being as quick as we are this weekend, so it is a bonus for everyone in the team. They keep pushing and have done a great job with it.

Adrian, on the front row. Must be a great feeling. All I can ask you to do is describe your emotions right now with Vitantonio Liuzzi qualifying seventh as well.
Adrian Sutil: It is a great moment, a great day for me. The whole weekend was a big success already and we did really good work. The car is amazing. It is quick, unbelievable, so it is just so good for the team after a big success in Spa we continue it here. Just being competitive. It is just such a different feeling in the car now as you know you have a chance. The good feeling of being a race driver is back and it is just such a great feeling. I enjoyed every single moment and I am happy to be here next to Lewis and next to Kimi on the first row.

It looked like you had a big moment at the Lesmos in Q1 and recovered beautifully from that. As a result here you are on the front row.
AS: The first session was quite difficult for us as I was missing the grip in the rear. The car was really oversteering. But in Q2 it was getting better once the circuit was rubbered in and the car felt really good and finally also in Q3 it was really good. I am quite happy in the end but it was not an easy qualifying. At the beginning it was quite difficult.

And your former team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella driving for Ferrari and where you are now and where he was two weeks ago. It is an amazing change of fortune.
AS: He was saying already that maybe he has not that strong a car compared to us. He knew he could have won the last race. It was a very strong race from him but we have to understand an Italian driver's dream is to drive in Formula One with Ferrari. That was there. I think everybody would have done this move. I think he did quite well now. He had a difficult weekend so far but 14th position is not so bad. We replaced the seat quite well with Tonio who did also a really good qualifying and I think he is really happy qualifying for the first time in Q3. I think it was all the right decisions.

Kimi, it looked to be a reasonable trouble-free qualifying for you. At Parabolica the car seemed to be a bit loose at the front end but you got the lap done in the end.
Kimi Raikkonen: It is not perfect for sure but it shows us again that once we put the race fuel in the car it seems to be to always be stronger against the others. It is more difficult especially in the second qualifying than the first and last one to make sure that we get through. The car has been good all weekend. We had some issues with it but unfortunately we cannot fix them as well as we want. But, overall, on the race pace and with the race fuel the car is running nicely and I am pretty happy with it. I think it was one of our best qualifying and it was a good time in our home race to do it and hopefully tomorrow it is going to help us get into a stronger position for the race and try to fight for the first three places. But we will see. It is not going to be easy tomorrow but we will give it our best.

Can you compare how you felt before the race at Spa to how you feel now in terms of how you think it will go on race day?
KR: In both races we knew that car was going to be stronger in the race than in qualifying. Of course if you start from sixth than third place it is a slightly different story. I think it gives us a better chance to have a strong finish. But it is going to be a long, hard race for the car. We give the best and hopefully we can give a good result for all the Italian fans and for ourselves. That's our biggest aim.

Lewis, an amazing start here with a very wide track and very high speed braking into the first chicane. A packed field of cars. It is always an interesting first corner at Monza.
LH: It is. I have been quite fortunate in the two times I have started here in Formula One. It has gone quite well. I am in the best position to get round the first corner in a good spot, in a good condition, and we have just got to make sure we get a good start. We have got KERS which should help us, so as Adrian was just saying we just want to get round the first corner and then enjoy the race. I hope we are able to enjoy it as much as everyone else.

Press Conference