Kimi Raikkonen admitted it felt "great" as he ended his run of near-misses in qualifying to finally claim a pole position at the Italian GP on Saturday.
The Finn has been enjoying a strong season in terms of pace but has often faltered when it matters most in Q3 which has then, in turn, compromised his race performance.
At Monza though, everything aligned as Kimi benefitted from running close enough to teammate Sebastian Vettel for a slipstream which allowed him to set the best final sector and snatch his first pole since Monaco last year and the first Ferrari driver to claim pole in Italy since Fernando Alonso in 2010.
“I think it couldn’t be a better place to be on pole position, our home Grand Prix in front of all the Tifosi,” he said. “They are always [great], it doesn’t matter where we go around the world but obviously here, the great Tifosi.
It has been a result the 38-year-old has threatened all season after often leading practice sessions but then finding himself pipped to the post by Vettel or making small mistakes on key laps.
Even so, Raikkonen didn't see pole as a major turning point.
"If this would be the first one then, of course, it is different," he said. "We keep trying, sometimes it works out and sometimes not, it's not as easy as it looks on TV.
"The whole weekend has been working pretty well, conditions have been changing. After practice, one of the three cars was going to get it.
"Today it was me but it doesn't really change anything, tomorrow is the main job to be done."
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With Vettel alongside on the front row, there is now the scenario of both Ferrari's battling each other on the long run to the first chicane at the start on Sunday.
The 2007 world champion is confident though neither he nor his teammate will try anything rash.
"We know as a team we can race but we need to be careful with each other," said Raikkonen. "I don't see how it changes for anybody.
"I don't think anybody was purposefully [going to] take a stupid amount of risk to damage someone else's car."
