Webber on pole for Monaco GP
Mark Webber will start from pole position in Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix despite posting only the second fastest time in qualifying in his Red Bull on Saturday.
Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher was quickest in his Mercedes, but was denied pole position after a five-place grid penalty relegated him to sixth.
Schumacher’s German teammate Nico Rosberg will start in second place, while the second row on the grid belongs to Lewis Hamilton in a McLaren and Lotus driver Romain Grosjean.
Australian Daniel Ricciardo will start from 15th position in his Toro Rosso.
Schumacher was penalised for crashing into Bruno Senna during the Spanish Grand Prix two weeks ago.
Williams’ Pastor Maldonado, who won in Spain, was given a ten-place penalty after swerving into Sergio Perez’s Sauber in the final practice on Saturday ahead of the qualifying. He will now start from 19th.
World champion Sebastian Vettel, who shares the lead in the drivers’ standings with Fernando Alonso, will start from ninth after failing to register a time in the third qualifying session.
Alonso, who like Vettel is on 61 points, will start from fifth next to Schumacher.
Webber was gracious in the aftermath of a thrilling session.
“It is Michael’s day,” said Webber.
“(That was) a good lap from him. It was a tight session and lots of different people arrived at the back end of qualifying with different situations with tyres.
“I knew I was aiming for the first few rows for sure – and it came tight. The first run in Q3 was not too bad and I thought I could go for pole.
“We have a very good car. The guys have done a good job and I am very, very happy.”
Schumacher’s stunning effort clinched his 69th pole position of his career and his best performance in qualifying since he returned to Formula One after a three-year retirement in 2010.
“Monaco to all of us is the track of the year that has a very prestigious position and to manage pole position here after what I have gone through in the last two-and-a-half years is just fabulous – and that is what sticks into my mind,” Schumacher said.
“I told you guys in (an earlier) press conference that I would get pole, start sixth and win it – and that is what I am going to aim for. That’s all I have in my mind and the past doesn’t matter.”
© AFP 2013The Crowd Says (2) | Page 1 of Comments
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May 27th 2012 @ 12:31pm
zacbrygel said | May 27th 2012 @ 12:31pm | Report comment
It was a great session of qualifying. What a great advantage it is for Webber to start pole on the narrowest track and therefore definitely the hardest to pass. If Webber can get off to a good start, he may be able to hold on to first position from start to finish.
May 27th 2012 @ 5:37pm
NCB619 said | May 27th 2012 @ 5:37pm | Report comment
I’ll be looking out for a few things this race:
1) If Webber can improve his starts, he will be in good stead for the race.
2) How well Schumacher may be able to work through the field. And in that case, Alonso and Hamilton as well. Also interesting with Button well down the order.
3) Massa’s seemingly rapid improvement this weekend. Failed to outqualify Alonso yet again, but to me, somehow looks almost like the form Ferrari in Monaco.
4) How many ads Ten can pack into the first 20 laps. I’m gonna go with 3. Hopefully, they follow their own style from last night, and pack as many into what’s left of the pre-race and post-race, so that there are less ads during the actual race. Only 1 ad break in the 1-hour-plus qualifying session last night, and that included a red flag period.
5) A sixth winner. With the top 10 on the grid featuring 3 of this season’s 5 winners so far, Rosberg in 2nd, Alonso 5th and Vettel 9th (the others being Button in 12th, and Maldonado in 19th), I’m quite looking forward to the prospect of yet another driver on the top step of the podium (well… middle position of the royal box). Maybe Webber will eat his words about F1 being boring because of this years multiple winners if it’s him.
Either way.. the Monaco GP never fails to disappoint, and I’m sure we’re going to be in for another great race tonight. And maybe we can have an Aussie double in 2 of the 3 “Triple Crown” events by the end of the morning!