GP Monaco, Schumacher on pole ahead of Webber, Alonso 6th

Michael Schumacher set the fastest time in qualifying for the Monaco GP. However, the German must serve a five-place penalty and will be in sixth place on the grid tomorrow.

The German from Mercedes had the better of a very tight Q3, in which he lapped in 1'14"301 and beat Mark Webber's Red Bull by 80 thousandths. Third place for Nico Rosberg with the other Mercedes, half a tenth behind the Australian, then Lewis Hamilton with the McLaren 280 thousandths behind, then Romain Grosjean's Lotus preceding the Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, six tenths from the top . The top 10 is completed by Kimi Raikkonen with the other Lotus who is eighth, ahead of Pastor Maldonado ninth with the Williams and in tenth place Sebastian Vettel, who did not lap in Q3 with his Red Bull. But due to the penalties, the grid tomorrow will be this: Webber on pole, then Rosberg, Hamilton, Grosjean, Alonso, Schumacher, Massa. Maldonando instead will start from 19th place.

Q1 began with the penalty suffered by Pastor Maldonado due to a decision of the race direction: for having hindered Sergio Perez in FP3, the Venezuelan was penalized ten positions on the grid. Schumacher was also punished in Spain for the accident with Bruno Senna and will have to serve five positions less in tomorrow's race. Fernando Alonso, who was among the first to go out on the track, achieved a time of 1'17"128, before the red flag arrived: Perez crashed his Sauber into the barriers in the swimming pool area, breaking the steering and the left rear suspension of his car. The Mexican tries to return to the pits but loses the rear wheel and on three wheels is forced to park at Rascasse, while an inspector quickly grabs the tire that was dancing dangerously on the track. Q1 restarts with the elimination of the Sauber driver, while everyone rides on the Softs; the Mercedes fly, with Nico Rosberg lowering his time by 1"2 and taking half a second off teammate Schumacher. The former Ferrari driver, however, improves and drops a full tenth below the 1'16” mark. Massa laps quickly and is one tenth behind Schumi, with Alonso playing to save and placing himself half a second from the leaders. More trouble for Sauber, with the surviving driver Kamui Kobayashi scratching the barriers at the Sainte Devote curve but the Japanese did not damage the car and managed to continue. Five minutes from the end of the heat, the best time was achieved by Nico Hulkenberg with the Force India equipped with Supersoft tyres, lapping in 1'15"418 and lowering Schumi's record by three tenths: the drivers most in difficulty were fitted with the same tyres, as Kimi Raikkonen is forced to do and risks elimination. Vettel also uses Supersoft tires and if the Finn from Lotus climbs back to fifth place, the German struggles a lot and does not do better than fourth place, beaten not only by Hulkenberg, but also by Kobayashi and Grosjean (who however was on Soft tyres). In addition to Perez, those eliminated from Q2 were also Heikki Kovalainen and Vitaly Petrov with the Caterham, Timo Glock with the Marussia, Pedro De La Rosa with the HRT, Charles Pic with the second Marussia and finally Narain Karthikeyan with the other HRT .

Q2 sees all the riders take to the track with Supersofts. Nico Rosberg impressed by lapping in 1'15”022, 13 thousandths better than Mark Webber; third place for Lewis Hamilton at a tenth and a half, ahead of Alonso's Ferrari, trailing by just 22 thousandths. Massa is seventh and Vettel ninth: during their fast laps the two ran into Vergne who damaged the nose at the exit of the Tunnel, at the point where Rosberg crashed last year. The Brazilian arrives very quickly in the Piscine area and is forced to zigzag between the two Toro Rossos, with Vergne having the wing stuck under the car. However, it does not appear that the Ferrari driver could be penalized due to his manoeuvre. Vettel complains on the radio about his bouncy set-up, while Massa and Alonso return to the track with new Supersoft tyres, like the Lotus. Raikkonen, however, does not go beyond 12th place, while Grosjean is tenth and currently excludes Vettel from Q3. Ferrari instead flies: Massa beats the 1'15" wall and gets a 1'14"911, the world champion responds but only gets eighth place. Jenson Button is also at risk of elimination: the final is incandescent, with Raikkonen grabbing the Top 10 right at the last second. In the end the Englishman from McLaren was sensationally eliminated: Q2 was dominated by Massa ahead of Robserg and Maldonado, then Webber, Schumi, Alonso, Hamilton, Grosjean, Vettel and Raikkonen. Excluded from Q3 are Hulkenberg, Kobayashi, Button, Bruno Senna with Williams, Paul Di remains with Force India and the two Toro Rossos of Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne.

Q3 saw Grosjean's Lotus shine with its own light, with the Frenchman lowering Massa's time by three tenths in Q2, before Rosberg achieved the best time in 1'14”572. The Ferraris have only one attempt available and wait until the end for the time: Alonso takes to the track 3'30" from the checkered flag and finishes fifth, while Massa is sixth, eight tenths from the top. Mark Webber meanwhile set the best time, immediately beaten by Michael Schumacher who lapped in 1'14"301 and obtained his 69th pole position at the age of 43: however, due to the penalty to be served, the German will start sixth and starting on the front row will be the Australian from Red Bull, alongside Nico Rosberg.

Lorena Bianchi

Here are the Qualifying times:

Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m14.301s 2. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m14.381s + 0.080 3. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m14.448s + 0.147 4. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m14.583s + 0.282 5. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m14.639s + 0.338 6. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m14.948s + 0.647 7. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m15.049s + 0.748 8. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m15.199s + 0.898 9. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m15.245 .0.944s + 10 2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault no time Q11 1. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 15.421m0.510s + 12 1. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 15.508m0.597s + 13 1. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 15.536m0.625s + 14 1. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 15.709m0.798s + 15 1. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 15.718m0.807s + 16 1. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 15.878m0.967s + 17 1. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso- Ferrari 16.885m1.974s + 1 Q18 1. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 16.538m1.120s + 19 1. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 17.404m1.986s + 20 1. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 17.947m2.529s + 21 1. Pedro de la Rosa HRT -Cosworth 18.096m2.678s + 22 1. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 18.476m3.058s + 23 1. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 19.310m3.892s + 24 107. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari no time 1% time: 20.697mXNUMXs