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.