Hamilton takes pole position for Italian GP

This is McLaren's 62nd front row sweep in Formula One — a record for the sport. It is also the team's third all front row this season.

"It's fantastic for the team," Button said. "I think the last few races have really shown our strength and qualifying both of us on the front row is great. I don't know if any other team has been able to do that this year."

Hamilton took his fourth pole of the season amid speculation about his possible switch to Mercedes. His time of 1 minute, 24.010 seconds was just more than a tenth of a second faster than Button's. Ferrari's Felipe Massa was third.

Championship leader Fernando Alonso had another disappointing day. The Spaniard, just a thousandth of a second behind Hamilton in the final practice, will start in 10th position.

On Friday, Alonso had to deal with a suspected engine failure in the first practice and a brake problem and gearbox failure during the afternoon session. His problems seemed behind him in the morning, but more technical issues left him nearly 1.5 seconds behind Hamilton in qualifying.