Monaco: Rosberg takes third consecutive pole!

Nico Rosberg has claimed his third pole position in a row, qualifying just 0.091 seconds ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton and leading Mercedes to a 1-2 start for the Monaco Grand Prix. The Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber will start third and fourth after being unable to match the last lap speed of the Mercedes cars ahead of them.

Mercedes were tipped as the front runners for pole position going into the Monaco Grand Prix weekend, but the third practice session of the weekend suggested that Ferrari may be their main competitors. Alas, Red Bull appeared to have been ‘sandbagging’ during free practice as extra speed and push was evident during qualifying this afternoon; a qualifying session which started with rain in the air and a damp, slippery track.

Vettel and Webber had secured the front row of the grid late in Q3 and looked as though they may be unbeatable. But in the dying seconds of qualifying Mercedes were able to find the extra pace needed to lock out the front row of the grid. Tyres will still be Mercedes main concern going into tomorrow’s race – the team admits that long stints are where their cars struggle the most.

Kimi Raikkonen took fifth for Lotus, whilst the struggling Ferrari of Fernando Alonso slots into sixth. Alonso’s teammate Felipe Massa did not take place in qualifying after his Free Practice 3 crash left the car irreparable in time to get on track. Massa will start tomorrow’s race from last place on the grid.

McLaren’s Sergio Perez qualified seventh with Adrian Sutil in eighth, who did well to recover after also having a free practice 3 shunt. Perez’s teammate Jenson Button is in ninth with the Toro Rosso of Jean-Eric Vergne taking the final of the top ten positions.

Q2 came to a busy end whilst the rain in the air and damp track conditions meant it was more a lottery rather than skill to get in today’s third qualifying session. As the track dried towards the end of the second session, all remaining cars went quickly for slick tyres to post as quick a lap as possible. It was a tactic that would only prove successful for some though.

After going provision P1 in Q1, Romain Grosjean lost out in Q2 qualifying in just thirteenth place – not an overly bad position though considering Lotus got Grosjean’s car repaired and back on track with just a handful of minutes remaining in Q1.

The only other really big story to come out of Q1 was the Caterham of Giedo van der Garde making it through to Q2. It is the first time in 2013 that Caterham have made it out of the first qualifying session, and Caterham even looked competitive for a period of time in Q2 as the wet track dried. Hulkenberg, Ricciardo, Bottas and Maldonado were the other drivers who failed to reach Q3.

At the back of the grid, a mistake in Force India’s tactic planning left Paul di Resta in P17 and out of qualifying early. The Caterham of Charles Pic (eighteenth) out qualified the Sauber of Esteban Gutierrez (nineteenth) whilst the Marussia’s of Chilton and Bianchi took twentieth and twenty-first. Bianchi will line up at the back of the grid alongside the Ferrari of Felipe Massa after a fire in his Marussia air box brought his car to a stop on his first out-lap of qualifying.

Full qualifying times and results can be found below. The Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2013 starts tomorrow, Sunday May 26th at 14:00 local time.

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