| Source: autosport.com | lotusf1team.com |
Nico Rosberg claimed his third Formula 1 pole position in a row in Monaco Grand Prix, as Mercedes fended off Red Bull’s challenge to fill the front row again.
Kimi Raikkonen took fifth for Lotus, while Ferrari had a tough session.
Fernando Alonso could only manage sixth, and his team-mate Felipe Massa did not take part at all as the damage from his practice three crash could not be repaired in time.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m13.876s
2. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m13.967s + 0.091s
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m13.980s + 0.104s
4. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m14.181s + 0.305s
5. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m14.822s + 0.946s
6. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m14.824s + 0.948s
7. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m15.138s + 1.262s
8. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m15.383s + 1.507s
9. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m15.647s + 1.771s
10. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m15.703s + 1.827s
Q2 cut-off time: 1m17.748s Gap **
11. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1m18.331s + 2.343s
12. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m18.344s + 2.356s
13. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m18.603s + 2.615s
14. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m19.077s + 3.089s
15. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m19.408s + 3.420s
16. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m21.688s + 5.700s
Q1 cut-off time: 1m26.095s Gap *
17. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m26.322s + 2.870s
18. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m26.633s + 3.181s
19. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m26.917s + 3.465s
20. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m27.303s + 3.851s
21. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth
22. Felipe Massa Ferrari
Quotes: Raikkonen extracts maximum but unsure about race
“It was a difficult day today because of the weather, but it was the same for all of the drivers. Obviously, qualifying here is never the easiest with the traffic and the barriers and you’d always prefer it to be dry as it’s so slippery when it’s wet. I’m happy we made it through to the top ten and P5 was more or less the best we could do with seven tenths to the next fastest car. I’m not sure what we’ll do in the race; we don’t have a clear picture yet as you never know exactly what the strategies from everyone else will be, but for sure we’ll find out tomorrow.”
Video: Post-qualy interview with SkySportsF1
Kimi Räikkönen – 5th: “It was a difficult day today because of the weather, but it was the same for all of the drivers. Obviously, qualifying here is never the easiest with the traffic and the barriers and you’d always prefer it to be dry as it’s so slippery when it’s wet. I’m happy we made it through to the top ten and P5 was more or less the best we could do with seven tenths to the next fastest car. I’m not sure what we’ll do in the race; we don’t have a clear picture yet as you never know exactly what the strategies from everyone else will be, but for sure we’ll find out tomorrow.”
Romain Grosjean – 13th: “The team did an unbelievable job to get the car ready for me after what happened in P3 this morning; I’m extremely grateful to all of them. I really owe them today and I think that’s more drinks I will have to buy at the end of the weekend. We had the car to do something very good in qualifying, but I caught Daniel [Ricciardo] in Q2 when the track was getting drier and faster. I had just two laps on the slicks and we weren’t able to get through to the top ten which is really frustrating. What can you say? This is Monaco. We have seen different weather conditions and it is a unique circuit. We will see what happens in the race tomorrow.”
Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: “It was a disappointing session for us. Firstly we need to say a big thank you to Romain’s crew for getting his car ready for qualifying in lightening quick time, and they were rewarded by a lightening quick first lap from their man. Unfortunately, traffic at the end of Q2 prevented him from getting into the top ten which was a great shame. Kimi has a reasonable position with P5 on the grid, but moving forwards up the order at Monaco is exceptionally difficult so any gains tomorrow will be hard won.
“Our car worked well in all conditions today so the weather wasn’t so much of a problem, we just had to ensure we had the correct tyres on at the right time. Finding clear track here is always difficult, no matter what the weather, and that’s what we saw with Romain today. It was an incredibly impressive lap. To go out in variable conditions with the pressure of only having a few minutes of the session remaining, and still manage to go P1 on your first lap is really quite an achievement.”
“Monaco is a very different circuit from any other, with the short lap length and traffic considerations meaning that there are not many viable options for different strategies. Add that to a dry weather forecast for tomorrow – plus the fact that it’s almost impossible to pass here – and we have a very difficult race in prospect. We will of course look at all possibilities and do what we can to get our cars to the front. It’s a very long race and we have seen fortunes change on a Sunday quite often thus far in 2013, so anything’s possible.”
KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN SPACE 