Mark Webber this afternoon took pole position for tomorrow’s Monaco Grand Prix, after a closely-fought battle with a superb Robert Kubica.
The Australian had an answer for everything Kubica could throw at him. Their sparring took the times down to the 1.13s territory, quick by any standards, although Kubica with exhausted tyres could not respond to Webber’s final quick lap with less than thirty seconds of the session remaining.
Webber’s team mate Sebastian Vettel popped up into third with a few seconds remaining, with Massa fourth and Lewis Hamilton fifth. Nico Rosberg was distraught with sixth, after having felt he could have put the car on pole, but he nevertheless beat his team-mate Michael Schumacher into seventh. Meanwhile Jenson Button was not particularly content in eighth, although both Rubens Barrichello and Vitantonio Liuzzi will line up in well-deserved ninth and tenth spots on the grid.
The widely-predicted chaos resulting from slower cars on track in Q1 did not materialise, and the Q1 and Q2 eliminations were without big surprise. But Fernando Alonso did not participate in the session after a morning practice crash damaged his chassis beyond immediate repair.
The full results are as follows:
Pos Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3
1. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:15.035 1:14.462 1:13.826
2. Kubica Renault 1:15.045 1:14.549 1:14.120
3. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:15.110 1:14.568 1:14.227
4. Massa Ferrari 1:14.757 1:14.405 1:14.283
5. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:15.676 1:14.527 1:14.432
6. Rosberg Mercedes 1:15.188 1:14.375 1:14.544
7. Schumacher Mercedes 1:15.649 1:14.691 1:14.590
8. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:15.623 1:15.150 1:14.637
9. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:15.590 1:15.083 1:14.901
10. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:15.397 1:15:061 1:15.170
11. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:16.030 1:15.317
12. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:15.445 1:15.318
13. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:15.961 1:15.413
14. Petrov Renault 1:15.482 1:15.576
15. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:15.908 1:15.692
16. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:16.175 1:15.992
17. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:16.021 1:16.176
18. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:17.094
19. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:17.134
20. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:17.377
21. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:17.864
22. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:18.509
23. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1:19.559
24. Alonso Ferrari No time
