Monaco promised to provide a Qualifying session just as thrilling as the five before it and it delivered said promise in style. We were treated to a Saturday session that was thrilling throughout and it means we have a pretty good race ahead of us.
Michael Schumacher was the star of the day. He went fastest of all in Q3 but because of a 5-place grid penalty due to an
incident with Bruno Senna in Spain 2 weeks ago he will start the race from sixth. Silencing many critics of his comeback, Schumacher showed just why he has been as successful as he has at this track in the past. 5 previous wins in Monaco meant that he had the experience around the track that no other driver could rival but, despite this, he was nobody's favourite for pole. If he was genuinely your pick for pole position; I salute you! Of course, we cannot avoid the fact that Michael will start from much lower down the grid because of his reckless clash with Senna. So whilst he performed exceptionally well today he must carry this performance forward into the race. He has retired from 3 of the 5 races so far and although many have blamed his poor luck his mistakes have often been easily avoidable, especially for a 7 time world champion.
Of course, when one driver suffers a penalty there are a fair few that will benefit. The man who has a lot to thank the German for is Mark Webber. Mark also drove particularly well today and was the man to beat until Schumacher crossed the line. His 2nd place has converted into pole position meaning Red Bull have a hat-trick of starts from the very front of the grid at Monaco. With overtaking being notoriously difficult in the narrow streets of the Monte Carlo circuit, pole position is something special indeed! And Mark Webber will be very glad that he is the one that can enjoy this rather comfortable position to be in ahead of the race. He experienced a starkly different Qualifying session to his teammate Sebastian Vettel. 2011's pole-sitter suffered throughout the session and even had to switch to the faster, super-soft tyres just to make it through to Q2. For the driver who out-qualified Webber on nearly every occasion last year, this must take some getting used to! With the exception of Bahrain, Vettel has never really looked that comfortable on Saturdays but that's not to say he can't convert his fortunes into a strong points finish. He, sadly, didn't set a timed lap in Q3 but starts in 9th instead of 10th because of a Maldonado penalty. Vettel will be starting the race on the harder of the two tyres, unlike all the cars in front of him, meaning we'll see some interesting, varied strategies being played out.
An extremely silly collision with Sergio Perez in FP3 was reminiscent of the old, 2011 version of Pastor Maldonado. He let his frustrations get the better of him and, as David Coulthard mentioned repeatedly during the BBC's Qualifying show,
"used his car as a weapon"! It really is a case of hero to zero for the Venezuelan who won over F1 fans the world over after his
win for Williams in Barcelona. He was strong again today and made it through to Q3 whilst teammate Senna dropped out in P14. The best he could manage was 9th but the stewards decided that a 10-place grid penalty was to be awarded for the aforementioned Perez clash and so he starts in 19th.
Many drivers benefit from Pastor's penalty. Nico Hulkenberg is probably the one that benefits the most as he gets to move up into the top 10. If he can hold or improve on this position he can pick up some vital championship points. Although those that do move up only move up by one, it can't hurt to start a position higher.
However, I doubt that this will offer much consolation for McLaren's Jenson Button. A poor Qualifying from him on the track where he last got pole position in 2009 meant that he could only finish 13th fastest. Button has been complaining of a lack of grip for a while now and considering what a vital factor that is in Monaco, this could have been predicted. Nevertheless,
Button was strong on Thursday and will definitely be disappointed with not making it through to Q3. The race win may be out of the picture for Jenson now but he still has a shot at a top-10 finish. This could be his chance to pull off some spectacular overtakes and he would receive a lot of acclaim for doing so in Monaco. Button shouldn't be written just yet but he does have a tough race before him. His teammate Lewis Hamilton continued to out-qualify him. Lewis was in with a chance of getting pole position but still managed a great drive to qualify fourth in a very competitive shoot-out! He starts just behind the front row in 3rd after the Schumacher penalty.
Ferrari had a great start to the race weekend by getting both drivers into the top 10 for the first time this season. Felipe Massa will be glad to finally get through to Q3 and where better to do it than Monaco? I guess the answer is any of the previous 5 races but you understand my point... Alonso and Massa qualified 6th and 7th respectively so only the former benefits from Schumacher's grid drop. There wasn't a lot of time between the Ferrari duo so I'm sure Felipe will be disappointed that he couldn't do better. As will Kimi Raikkonen... Lotus looked very strong in practice but the Finn, just like Vettel, struggled from the beginning and also switched to the faster tyre early on. He pulled things together though and qualified 8th. Romain Grosjean did considerably better by going 5th fastest in the nearest he will get to a 'home' Grand Prix this season.
So I have summarised the main aspects of tomorrow's grid but Sergio Perez provided us all with much to talk about only 5 minutes in to the Saturday session. He starts at the very back of the grid because of an accident in Q1 which ruled his car out of any further running. Just like 2011, Perez didn't have a very good Saturday in Monaco but luckily this time around he can race on Sunday.
From what is probably my lengthiest Qualifying review ever, you can tell that a lot was going on today in Monaco. With so much to talk about and discuss from Qualifying, we can only imagine what the actual race will be like. Although Monaco isn't a track famed for its overtaking, it can still deliver a shock or two. My advice would be to not take the starting positions as the final finishing positions and to expect many surprises tomorrow. If there's one thing we do know from this season so far it's to, and excuse the cliche, expect the unexpected! This season really is like no other and with the possibility, albeit a small one, of rain a lot could change during the Grand Prix. I hope you enjoy it as much as I know I will...
See you tomorrow for all the apres-race talk!
Aqsa,
@aqsasformula
(Images 1,3: dailymail.co.uk,, Image 2: redbullracing.com)
UPDATE: Maldonado receives another penalty for a gearbox change. It's a 5-place grid drop this time meaning he starts 24th.
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