F1 - Massa takes super Monaco pole in Ferrari lock-out

Raikkonen was off Massa's pace all through qualifying

Felipe Massa ripped up the Monaco formbook to stun McLaren and help secure a surprise Ferrari front-row lockout for Sunday's race.

The Brazilian repeatedly expressed his dislike for the twisty street circuit in the build up to this weekend’s race – but proved he could still be a force here with a characteristically brilliant final lap to beat his team-mate and both McLarens to pole.

His final time of 1m15.787 pinched the top spot away from Kimi Raikkonen by just 0.03s and creates a potentially impregnable red wall at the front on a track that is notoriously hard to overtake on.

The perfect qualifying result now puts Ferrari in the ideal place to end its seven-year victory drought at the tortuous venue.

As for McLaren, the British squad faces a big challenge to reassert what was expected to be clear supremacy on the streets after dominating Thursday practice.

Lewis Hamilton will lead its fight back in third after never quite completing the perfect lap in either of the three sessions, with team-mate Heikki Kovalainen alongside on the second row.

BMW again couldn’t get in the mix at the front, although Robert Kubica just missed out on beating Kovalainen to fourth by 0.06s.

It was a far worse situation for his team-mate Nick Heidfeld, however, who will start down in 13th after missing out on a top 10 berth for the first time this season.

Williams delivered on its strong form throughout all sessions so far and Nico Rosberg starts will start in a sterling sixth place.

Fernando Alonso didn’t enjoy the easiest of sessions in his R28, but still rallied in Q3 to net a commendable seventh with Toyota’s Jarno Trulli alongside.

Red Bull duo Mark Webber and David Coulthard will start alongside each other in ninth and 10th places respectively – although Coulthard missed out on a chance to improve on that after a huge crash at the end of Q2.

Under braking into the chicane after exiting the tunnel, the Scot’s RB4 violently snapped towards the right and smashed into the barrier.

The impact ripped off its right-front wheel, sending it rolling past the chicane, while the car careered down the escape road.

Coulthard managed to get out unharmed and returned to the pit lane, although the crash meant he was unable to play any part in Q3.


DC's quali battle was cut short after an impact with the arm-co

Qualifying 2

While Coulthard's smash brought the second phase to a dramatic conclusion, Massa had already continued his straightforward route to the pole position shootout.

He chiselled 0.08s off his fastest time from Q1 to lap the circuit in 1m15.100s, under two tenths of a second quicker than Rosberg who produced a brilliant fast lap of his own to net second.

This relegated the McLarens down to third and fourth, with Hamilton driving flamboyantly around the tight streets but not quite managing to uncork the ultimate lap time from the MP4-23.

Raikkonen was again an unspectacular, if menacingly quiet, fifth with Kubica sixth for BMW.

Trulli, Webber, Alonso and Coulthard secured the remaining top 10 positions.

Toyota’s Timo Glock just missed out in 11th, while Jenson Button will line up 12th for Honda.

Meanwhile, Heidfeld's recent qualifying problems got even worse with a hugely disappointing 13th place.

Kazuki Nakajima too will be disappointed to be so far behind his own team-mate and the Williams rookie will start 14th, ahead of Rubens Barrichello (Honda)

Qualifying 1

Massa completed a late flying lap to set the fastest time of the weekend so far in the first phase, as Ferrari showed it may have the pace to challenge for pole.

While the focus was on the battle to make it into Q2, the Brazilian took the streets for a second run and clocked a best time of 1m15.190s.

Up until that point, it had been the McLarens leading the way, with Kovalainen in particular keen to complete as many laps as possible following his morning crash

The Finn was out early and twice set times which put him to the top of the timesheet during his first series of runs. He then too returned for a second run late on to further improve his time.

Hamilton was third, but unlike the two rivals ahead of him only felt the need to venture out on to the track once and banged in his best effort of 1m15.582s on his opening fast lap.

Raikkonen, too, only went out once and ended up a solid fourth.

Nico Rosberg continued to show he could be a threat towards the front in the Williams with fifth place, which put him ahead of BMW’s Robert Kubica.

The closing stages of the session saw drivers battling to make the cut try and find that vital free section of track in order to set a representative lap.


Hamilton was disappointed not to be on pole, but is confident in his strategy

Renault rookie Nelson Piquet Jr got this chance, but the under-pressure Brazilian’s miserable weekend worsened when he failed to make the cut for the second straight race.

It didn’t help that he ruined two of his four fast laps, sliding into the escape road at Ste Devote on his very first before getting out of shape at Portier to clip the kerb on his penultimate effort.

The debut for Toro Rosso’s new car, ironically, coincided with its worst qualifying session of the season as both its drivers missed the cut, as did both Force Indias.


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

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