Vettel: Clearly I wasn't happy but I don't tell you why

Vettel was forced to watch his teammate Kimi Raikkonen claim top spot on the grid with a stellar final lap during qualifying in which the Finn was able to catch a handy tow from the German, said to be worth a couple of tenths, to blitz around Monza faster than any other man ever has.

It's official: 38-year-old Kimi Raikkonen is officially the fastest Formula 1 driver of all time!

While the venue erupted in joy, the Tifosi wallowing in an all-red front row and even the neutrals among us were happy to see Raikkonen deliver when it mattered as he did today, but Vettel thought he had it until he realised he didn't and was as happy as expected for his 'big mate' in the other red car.

Indeed, Vettel had to cut short his premature celebration on the cool-down lap, as played out over the team radio:

Later the four-times F1 World Champion explained why Raikkonen was given the tow during both runs in Q3, "We have an order that changes every weekend and this weekend it was Kimi's turn to go second. Obviously, I'm not entirely happy with the end of my qualifying and that is the emotion that is dominating now."

"To be honest it was not a tidy lap and I think the other laps were actually better ones. I lost time pretty much everywhere. It was just not a good lap and not good enough, lucky to get second and not third, but it's just not good enough."

But later the German added somewhat cryptically, "Clearly I wasn't happy but I don't tell you why."

At the end of the day, Raikkonen was the better driver, delivering a clinical lap that proved to be too good, a Formula 1 record average of 263.588 km/h which means he will from the top spot on the grid for the 18th time in his career.

It was also Ferrari's first at Monza since Fernando Alonso claimed pole for the team on home soil in 2010, the next day he scored the team's last win at Monza too.