2009 Grand Prix of Monaco, Qualifying: Kimi Starts 2nd Behind Button!

Saturday, Qualifying – Button Beats Kimi to Pole (Updates Below)
Full qualifying report can be read here

The championship leader kept a relatively low profile for most
of the hour, then charged to the front with his final Q3 lap, beating
surprise front row man Kimi Raikkonen to the top spot by 0.025 seconds.

But there was disaster for last year’s winner Lewis Hamilton,
who had been tipped as a dark horse contender for pole given McLaren’s
faith in its Monaco package. The world champion crashed in Q1 and will
start 16th.

Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) and Nico Rosberg (Williams) both
held provisional pole early in Q3, before Raikkonen showed Ferrari’s
resurgent form by producing a 1m14.927s in the closing seconds.

But even as the Finn completed the lap, Button was going even
faster, crossing the line a few seconds later to snatch pole away and
further strengthen his championship prospects…

Pos  Driver       Team                       Q1        Q2        Q3   
 1.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:15.210  1:15.016  1:14.902
 2.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:15.746  1:14.514  1:14.927
 3.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:15.425  1:14.829  1:15.077
 4.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:15.915  1:14.879  1:15.271
 5.  Massa        Ferrari               (B)  1:15.340  1:15.001  1:15.437
 6.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:15.094  1:14.846  1:15.455
 7.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:15.495  1:14.809  1:15.516
 8.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:15.260  1:14.825  1:15.653
 9.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:15.898  1:15.200  1:16.009
10.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:15.930  1:15.579  1:17.344
11.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:15.834  1:15.833
12.  Piquet       Renault               (B)  1:16.013  1:15.837
13.  Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:16.063  1:16.146
14.  Bourdais     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:16.120  1:16.281
15.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:16.248  1:16.545
16.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:16.264
17.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:16.264
18.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:16.405
19.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:16.548
20.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  1:16.788


Qualifying Video
Last Minutes of Q3 
Courtesy of Echti | Size: 24MB | Duration: 2.03mins
Download via Mediafire


Breaking News & Quotes:
Post-qualifying car weights – Kimi: 644.0kg
Hamilton to start from back of grid 
Post-qualifying press conference : 


Q. Kimi, the first front row start of the season. It looked like

you had the pace all qualifying and for a while there you were on pole

and then right at the end it was Jenson that got it.
Kimi RAIKKONEN: I mean the car hasn’t been too bad here.

Since the first practice it has always been getting better once the

circuit has been picking up the grip and in qualifying the car was

good. In the first qualifying it was a bit difficult and I made some

mistakes and I didn’t get a very good lap. The second qualifying was

good and then in the last one it was good. I had one more lap and I

went off in the first corner, so I don’t know if it would have made any

difference but it was a good result for us especially in this kind of

place. The car has been behaving pretty well, so it is nice to be back

on the front and hopefully we can fight for victory tomorrow.
Q. Kimi, your third time starting from second on the grid. You

said on Thursday that things could be better. What sort of improvements

have you made to the car?
KR: I mean the car is basically the same as the last race, so

in that way we haven’t changed it. There are still a few issues that

are hurting all the time but we cannot change it right now. It is

mainly for me but that is how it is. I mean it has been pretty good. On

Thursday it was okay but all the time when the circuit seems to pick up

grip we seem to improve the handling, so that seems to be a benefit for

us. I am happy we are second after the start of the season but here it

is not very good, so I am pretty disappointed not to be at the front as

that gives you a massive edge in the race and that is more or less the

only way to win the race, so we will see what we can do tomorrow and

try to go for a win.
Q. How much satisfaction does this give you after the season you have had so far?
KR: Not much. I would rather have been in the front. It is

nice to be second but still we lost the first place for a small margin

but that’s what we are aiming for and once we get there I will be

happy. But especially in this race. In any other race it maybe doesn’t

make much difference but here the difference is much bigger between

first and second. But it is going to be a long race, so we will see

what we can do.
Q. I think the team said that the car was better on the soft tyres rather than the super softs?
KR: No, I did my fastest lap on the softer ones. Both of them work very well but they seem to be best.
Q. (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, is KERS your weapon against Jenson at the start?
KR: Here it can maybe help a little bit but it’s such a short

straight to the first corner, it’s very tight, it’s very difficult, you

need to really have a jump. Much better to be able to beat the first

guy but we will try, we will try what we can and see what happens.
Q. Kimi, given your difficult start to the season will you really

risk everything for a victory tomorrow or will you try to ensure some

good points?
KR: I’m only interested in winning, so I have nothing really

to lose. OK, the team needs points but in the end they are happier with

a win than just some points. We’re not really in the championship. We

know that the team has not had a very easy time this year but we have

shown some signs that we are getting better. We still need to work.

This is a special place, so if we have good speed here, I wouldn’t say

that we would be where we want to be on a good circuit, maybe not as

good as Brawn, so that’s what we’re really aiming to improve, so I will

definitely try to do everything that I can.
Ferrari Team Quotes – Kimi Raikkonen – 2nd: "Second place is a nice result

but I’m disappointed that I missed out on pole by a few hundredths.

Here, there is a much bigger difference between starting from first or

second place. The car has improved and that can be seen from the

performance level. Today, we felt ever more comfortable as the track’s

grip level improved bit by bit. I had some difficulties on the first

run in Q1, but then things got better all the time. In the end, I had

the possibility of doing another lap, but I went long at the first

corner: I don’t know if I could have done a better time. Tomorrow’s

race will be long and tough. The start will be very important and on

the short straight here, the KERS will definitely be a help, but not as

much as elsewhere. All the same, it’s good to be back in the fight for

the top places and I will give it my best shot to try and win, because

that’s the only thing that matters."

Chris Dyer – chief track engineer: "A great result for

the team: two cars in the front three rows is a reward for all the work

we’ve done. Kimi drove fantastically well, while Felipe was almost

always in traffic, which prevented him from doing better. It was a very

complicated qualifying session, starting with Felipe’s accident, which

meant he had to come straight back to the pits to change the nose and

the ensuing red flag period, which had an effect, because for us at

least, the tyres were only at their best after the first flying lap.

The team and drivers worked really well in managing the situation and

the credit for this result goes to them and everyone back at the

factory who worked on preparing for this grand prix. We are in a good

position for tomorrow’s race, in which we will do our best to bring

both cars home on the podium."

 I knew Kimi was on for it, he has looked so much better this week at Monaco, the "true drivers track". Well done Kimi! You rock! You’re just fantastic! We never stopped believing in you. And you’ve never stopped trying. I’m so proud to be a Kimi fan. Congratulations guys, I’m sure you’re all as happy as me! Big hugs!

Commisserations to Button for that last gasp to take pole from Kimi, a truly excellent qualifying day today with plenty of action. Hamilton was looking good all week too, but mistakes happen when you’re on the limit. 
Kimi actually has the fastest lap time from the whole qualifying session in Monaco – it shows he truly is still the fastest driver on the grid. But we never doubted that did we? Thumbs up to Ferrari for keeping up the improvement throughout the week, hopefully it will pay off in the race. The F60 is much better for Kimi, than the previous two cars that he’s had in 2007 and 2008, and I’m sure of that.
The KERS has definately played a significant part in Ferrari’s competitive pace in Monaco, but I knew Kimi would make the bigger difference compared to Massa. I’m a really happy girl right now. Kimi’s performance was awesome, lap after lap he kept improving and I could see from just the television how hard he was pushing but he was very smooth, he hardly drove wide or put a foot wrong anywhere. He was just perfect. And only 0.025 of a second slower than the Brawn? Obviously, there’s a thing with fuel going on, since Kimi had the fastest time before carrying race fuel for the final qualifying lap, and we shall find out the car weights later today. 
I didn’t bother paying attention to the BBC presenters today, I knew what to expect – sympathy for Hamilton and praise for Button. Forget any mention of Kimi, especially since he did a great job this time. I wonder if he should be sacked now, Eddie? They didn’t even show Kimi in the press conference!!! You tossers. It’s been since November 2008 that we haven’t seen Kimi in the top three, and after such a great performance they still manage to piss me off by cutting him off. That doesn’t matter, I’m sure Kimi is very pleased but a little disappointed he didn’t keep pole. I did laugh when seeing him compared to Button and Barrichello in the conference, Kimi’s hat just looks even more weird when sat next to the others. Hehe!
Kimi won the Monaco GP in 2005 from pole in the MP4/20, which was one of the most memorable and outstanding weekends from Kimi, ever. In 2006, he had a shot for the win but the McLaren retired on fire. Can Kimi do it tomorrow? Of course he can, he’s the best! But it’ll be a long and hard race as it always has been, and it’ll be amazing to watch. Keep Flying Kimi!