Kimi Raikkonen has claimed his first Formula One pole position of 2018 ahead of teammate Sebastian Vettel and rival Lewis Hamilton.Ferrari is back on pole position after an eight-year absence from the top spot in Monza and holds the new fastest ever lap in F1.However, F1 fans were surprised that it came in the hands of Raikkonen, rather than the team’s championship contender Vettel, who was second.Vettel briefly took top spot after crossing the line ahead of Raikkonen, before the Finn completed his lap to post a time 0.161s faster.Raikkonen’s superb pace in the final sector – aided by a tow from his Ferrari teammate — was key to his pole, completing it a tenth-and-a-half faster then Vettel.Yet to win in 2018 and 85 points adrift of Hamilton with eight races to go, Raikkonen’s chances of a second world title are slim, but he is not ready to play the team game just yet.“Our aim is to be with both cars in the front row and see how it pans out,” He told Sky Sports F1.“We know what we can do. We can race and always try to beat each other but we must be fair at the same time.“I don’t see it any different as that. I don’t think anybody would purposefully take the risk in Turn 1 to damage somebody else’s car and yours at the same time.”

Raikkonen has never won in 15 outings at the Italian GP and has not stood on the podium at Monza since 2009.

Vettel, 17 points adrift of Hamilton in the championship, was furious that the Finn’s name, and not his, sat at the top of the time sheets.

The German remarked: “Obviously you’re aiming to try and get ahead no matter who you’re racing. For sure you try to avoid contact totally, but you try to avoid that anyway.

“It’s not like if there’s another car, you say yeah, I’m going to make contact. With our cars you can’t really afford to touch or be touched.”