Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes' recent race pace means he is not too worried about being jumped off the line by either Ferrari at the Italian Grand Prix.
Hamilton took pole by just over two tenths of a second from Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel despite having Mercedes' upgraded power unit. Team-mate Rosberg was forced to switch back to his Spa-Francorchamps engine due to an issue after FP3, meaning he could only manage fourth.
That means Hamilton will line up on pole position with the two fast-starting Ferraris behind him for the long run down to Turn 1. At least year's race he dropped from pole to fourth off the line but recovered to win and he does not think the start will be the decisive factor tomorrow.
"It's always a great feeling getting pole, as Sebastian knows and the same with Kimi," Hamilton said. "I think I've had a couple of poles here but it's not always been good to me, last year I think was not such an easy getaway but it didn't really matter for the race. It's a long run down to Turn 1, these guys are good off the line so we'll try to do our best tomorrow. But our race pace has tended to be quite strong so I hope that we repeat that tomorrow."
In the post-qualifying press conference, Vettel joked that his dream was to see Hamilton not finish on the podium given his big championship lead. Hamilton welcomed the fresh challenge of Ferrari but hopes to see team-mate and title rival Rosberg recover to beat both red cars.
"I don't want to take away Sebastian's dreams but I have dreams also... These guys did a great job, they're incredibly close, it's good to see we have a good fight.
"Going in to every race you want to get as many points as you can and you're always hoping there is an opportunity to gain more than the usual, but honestly I'm hoping that Nico pulls through and we both can do a good job. Naturally we both want to finish ahead of the Ferraris here, it's good to do on their home turf if possible and obviously for the [constructors'] championship."
Hamilton's pole position was his seventh in a row, meaning he matches the record set by Alain Prost in his 1993 championship campaign. The world champion has only failed to qualify pole at one race this year so far.