The McLaren driver stayed focused on his task today, clinching the pole position in qualifying for this weekend's Italian Grand Prix.

"All the races are like finals for me," Alonso said. "I want five wins if I can."

Alonso circled the 3.6-mile circuit in 1 minute, 21.997 seconds for his second pole of the season — on the same day that Italian media reported that he submitted evidence relating to the Ferrari spy scandal to Formula One's governing body.

Alonso's rookie teammate Lewis Hamilton, who leads the Spaniard by five points atop the drivers' standings, was second at 1:22.360, giving McLaren the top two starting spots for the fifth time in 13 races.

"It was a good battle we had going on out there," Hamilton said. "It's the fifth time we have the front row locked out. Hopefully we can repeat that tomorrow."

Ferrari's Felipe Massa was third with a 1:22.549, followed by BMW-Sauber's Nick Heidfeld had a 1:23.174.

Massa's Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen, who was runner-up at Monza in 2006, could only manage fifth place with a 1:23.183 after crashing in Saturday morning's final practice session.

"We've been quick all weekend," said Alonso, who was also the fastest in practice. "Hopefully we can take that through to the race tomorrow.

"Hopefully, step by step, from here to the end of the championship, we can be ahead of our opponents."

With five races left, Alonso, Hamilton, Massa and Raikkonen are separated by 16 points in the drivers' standings.

Hamilton leads with 84 points, followed by Alonso with 79, Massa with 69, and Raikkonen with 68.

McLaren and Ferrari are embroiled in a bitter dispute over alleged espionage and attempted sabotage, after technical data about the Italian team's cars turned up in the possession of McLaren's chief designer.

The dispute ignited in July when a 780-page technical dossier on Ferrari cars was found at the home of McLaren chief designer Mike Coughlan. Coughlan was later suspended, while Ferrari mechanic Nigel Stepney, who allegedly supplied the documents, was fired.

Italian news daily La Repubblica said Saturday that Alonso had submitted evidence related to the case to the FIA, following its request that McLaren's drivers cooperate in the inquiry.

"I did only what had to be done," Alonso was quoted as saying.

Massa conceded that McLaren deserved to be at the front of the grid after clocking consistently faster times than Ferrari in testing and in practice.

"I think third place was the best I could do this afternoon," Massa said. "We lacked a bit of speed to fight the McLarens but we know we are competitive in race trim.

"Hopefully we can have some surprise tomorrow."

Robert Kubica was sixth after posting 1:23.446 in his BMW-Sauber. Kubica was third in the race last year.

Raikkonen slammed into the tire wall in the third and final practice session and was forced to qualify in the spare car.

"It definitely won't be the first time that we have had the odd difficulty in qualifying and then been very competitive in the race," Raikkonen said. "I will do all I can to give our fans something to cheer about."