Nico Rosberg set the fastest time ahead of Hamilton and Red Bull in qualifying Monaco Grand Prix after causing a yellow flag. Alonso and Räikkönen are fifth and sixth respectively.
Today’s qualifying in Monte Carlo will give much to talk about. Full of excitement and strategy drivers in general have been flawless and there have been very few incidents. Nico Rosberg has set a controversial pole position, putting out a yellow flag that has prevented other drivers to overtake him.
Mercedes came out of the box before it the pit lane was opened in order to set a good time. Traffic in Monte Carlo circuit is very annoying, since the circuit is shorter, slower and narrow. Avoiding it is a very difficult task, especially in Q1.
Later, Daniil Kvyat lost control coming out of the tunnel in a similar way to the accident 3 years ago of Checo Perez, but fared better, only breaking the front wing, and leaving the track full of pieces of carbon fiber. Finally he could return to pits and repair his car to mark the sixteenth fastest time in Q3 and get into the next round.
Other notable incidents been two brakes in Saint Devote of Magnussen – including a scare that has been saved thanks to the great escape – and Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Massa crashing in Mirabeau with less than two minutes to finish Q3. Massa has been driven by this incident. “I asked Marcus what had happened and he could not say anything. I’m very disappointed”, explained the Williams driver, very annoyed.
These incidents and traffic have played tricks on many drivers. Ferrari have had tyres mounted to ensure supertous step up in Q2 .
Q1 yielded a surprising Vergne with the best time and Sauber, Marussia and Caterham were the ones out.
The start of Q2 was very different: less traffic, fewer cars slow and therefore less incidents. In fact, no incident. Lewis Hamilton had a time of 1, 5 seconds faster than Q1, followed by Rosberg, Vettel and seven tenths had risen. Hulkenberg, Button, Bottai, Grosjean, Maldonado and Massa -who could not come back out after the accident with Ericsson at the end of Q1- were the drivers who could not get into Q3.
The Q3 was pure strategy. Rosberg marked an amazing time below 1:15:00 – the only one of the weekend – and with a minute to finish the Q3 he was out of track in Mirabeau and stayed in close loophole causing a yellow flag that prevented the rest of the drivers make quick laps. This has avoided a possible crash, but the controversy is served: Rosberg was repeating the trap – duly sanctioned – of Michael Schumacher in 2006? The attitude of Hamilton out of the car makes clear his opinion.
They will talk about this and the many investigations that are underway by encumbrances on track. The race is this Sunday at 14:00 local time.
Results:
Pos Driver Team Lap Time Laps
1 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:15.989 26
2 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:16.048 27
3 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:16.384 22
4 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:16.547 25
5 14 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:16.686 27
6 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:17.389 27
7 25 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Renault 1:17.540 26
8 20 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1:17.555 25
9 26 Daniil Kvyat STR-Renault 1:18.090 23
10 11 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1:18.327 26
11 27 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:17.846 20
12 22 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:17.988 20
13 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1:18.082 20
14 8 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:18.196 23
15 13 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 1:18.356 21
16 19 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes No time 10
17 21 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1:18.741 11
18 99 Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 1:18.745 11
19 17 Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 1:19.332 10
20 4 Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 1:19.928 9
21 10 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 1:20.133 9
22 9 Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 1:21.732 9

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