Sunday, 24 May 2009

Button takes Monaco pole

World championship leader Jenson Button put himself in the ideal position to extend his remarkable 2009 winning streak by taking an exquisitely judged, last-gasp pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix.The Brawn driver lurked beneath the radar in the first two knockout sessions and then pulled out all the stops on his crucial final Q3 lap to pip an on-form Kimi Raikkonen by a scant 0.025s.Brawn’s other driver Rubens Barrichello took third on the grid on his 37th birthday ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel and Felipe Massa in the second Ferrari.
After showing strongly throughout practice Lewis Hamilton’s qualifying challenge ended in tears when he crashed in the first knockout session, consigning him to 16th on the grid – a bitter disappointment for the world champion who felt he had a rare opportunity to contend for victory on the Principality’s streets.As ever in Monaco qualifying sessions – where more is at stake than at any other circuit given the difficulty of overtaking and the premium on grid positions – the action was frenetic from the outset and built up to a thrilling climax.
Button was second fastest in Q1 but only snuck through Q2 in eighth place and did not look like the strongest bet for pole.But as in Spain two weeks ago, the Brit methodically adjusted his car’s set-up through the hour, found its ‘sweet spot’ at exactly the right moment, and then delivered the goods with an on-the-limit but impeccably controlled final lap to knock Raikkonen off pole.
Kimi’s performance was a testament to Ferrari’s improved form and gives the Scuderia its first realistic shot at a race win this year.Barrichello and Vettel (who it transpired was carrying a very light fuel load) were respectively 0.175s and 0.369s off the pace in third and fourth, with Massa 0.435s adrift in fifth.
The Ferrari driver was fortunate to escape from Q1 after clattering the barrier in the Swimming Pool complex and damaging the nosecone of the F60.The Brazilian regained his composure but the incident perhaps broke his rhythm and took the edge off his pole challenge.
Nico Rosberg qualified sixth for Williams, his best grid position since round two in Malaysia, but looked like he might have done better still after topping Q1.
With Hamilton on the sidelines, Heikki Kovalainen was McLaren’s standard-bearer in seventh, while Mark Webber (Red Bull), Fernando Alonso (Renault) and Kazuki Nakajima (Williams) rounded out the top 10.
Hamilton’s quest to get into the pole battle for the first time this season was over halfway through Q1 when he deposited his McLaren in the Mirabeau tyre barrier.The world champion lost control as he strayed over the top of the crown in the road in the braking area for the downhill right-hander and smashed the rear corner of his MP4-24 against the tyre wall.Hamilton was unable to drag the damaged car back to the pits and therefore ruled himself out of the rest of the qualifying hour – the first Q1 exit of his F1 career.His demeanour as he despondently walked away from the car and later apologised to the team for his error spoke volumes about the golden opportunity he had squandered.
Both BMWs and both Toyotas completed a novel and high-profile cast of Q1 casualties, although given their wretched weekends to date it didn’t come as a great surprise.
Force India profited from their malaise to get both its cars into Q2, as did Toro Rosso.Rookie Sebastien Buemi again won the STR bragging rights, taking 11th with team-mate Sebastien Bourdais 14th, while Giancarlo Fisichella was an excellent 13th for Force India despite having one of his time annulled for short-cutting the chicane.


Monaco GP starting grid

1. BUTTON Brawn
2. RAIKKONEN Ferrari
3. BARRICHELLO Brawn
4. VETTEL Red Bull
5. MASSA Ferrari
6. ROSBERG Williams
7. KOVALAINEN McLaren
8. WEBBER Red Bull
9. ALONSO Renault
10. NAKAJIMA Williams
11. BUEMI Toro Rosso
12. PIQUET Renault
13. FISICHELLA Force India
14. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso
15. SUTIL Force India
16. HAMILTON McLaren
17. HEIDFELD BMW
18. KUBICA BMW
19. TRULLI Toyota
20. GLOCK Toyota

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