Adrian Sutil nearly fetched Force India's second successive pole position before McLaren's Lewis Hamilton gatecrashed into his party in the adrenalin-pumped qualifying sessions for Sunday's Italian Grand Prix in Monza on Saturday.
Sutil, who had topped the timesheet in two of the three practice sessions, made a slight error in his final flyer through the first Lesmo to settle for the second place on Sunday's starting grid while Hamilton grabbed the pole.
Sutil's new Italian teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi dazzled in his Force India F1 debut and will start seventh on the grid on Sunday.
{{/usCountry}}Sutil's new Italian teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi dazzled in his Force India F1 debut and will start seventh on the grid on Sunday.
{{/usCountry}}For a moment, it seemed Force India would be celebrating their second pole position when Sutil lapped the circuit in 1m 24.261s before Hamilton came from behind to run away with the pole.
It was a great duel between Sutil's VJM02 and Hamilton's Kinetic Energy Recovery System-powered McLaren car and the duo, best of friends, will occupy the front row on Sudnay.
Ironically, Giancarlo Fisichella, who joined Ferrari after recording Force India's maiden pole position and podium finish in Belgium, could not make it to the third qualifying session (Q3) and will start 14th on Sunday.
Sutil and Liuzzi made it to the second qualifying session as seventh and eighth fastest cars and then came fourth and fifth respectively in Q2 to storm into Q3.
This is the first time that both the cars of the Vijay Mallya-owned outfit made it to Q3.