F1 Fanatic

Mark Webber claimed the coveted Monaco Grand Prix pole position

Mark Webber starts from pole position for the second race in a row.

He beat Robert Kubica by almost three tenths of a second to take pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix.

Webber’s team mate Sebastian Vettel starts third alongside Felipe Massa’s Ferrari.

Q1

Monaco qualifying in pictures

With Fernando Alonso not starting qualifying following his practice crash he was certain to be one of the seven cars eliminated in Q1.

Robert Kubica was the quickest driver to begin with but as he slowed to create space for his next lap a Sauber went past him – spoiling his next effort.

Although all the drivers were having to find space for themselves in traffic, the session did not provide the opportunity for the new teams some had expected.

Lotus had not used any super soft tyres in final practice, saving everything they had. Heikki Kovalainen was clearly giving maximum effort as well, spinning twice in his attempts to reach the final 17.

But it was to no avail – he ended the session nine-tenths of a second behind Kamui Kobayashi.

Q2

Once again Kubica started the session quickest, edging Nico Rosberg by two tenths of a second.

Massa and Rosberg took it in turns to beat Kubica’s time, but he was never in any danger of failing to make it into Q3.

Team mate Vitaly Petrov, however, was eliminated when his attempt to set a top ten time ended in the barriers at Sainte Devote.

Jenson Button looked vulnerable for a while before a late improvement moved him up to ninth. But he was sixth tenths of a second slower than his team mate, who ended the session fourth.

There were no major surprises among the bottom seven except at Force India, where Vitantonio Liuzzi beat Adrian Sutil in qualifying for the first time this year.

Q3

Different tactics were in use as the final part of qualifying began. McLaren sent their drivers out for one long run with a series of flying laps. Kubica did two runs in the Renault and looked a strong candidate for pole position to begin with.

But Webber pipped Kubica with his first flying effort, then found an even greater margin on his final run, comfortably taking pole position. Team mate Vettel was third, four tenths of a second of his team mate’s pace.

Lewis Hamilton emerged ahead in a tightly-fought battle between the McLarens and Mercedes. Team mate Button was unhappy after being held up by Massa on one of his better runs.

2010 Monaco Grand Prix

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• From the stands: David Entrican watches the Monaco Grand Prix at Monte-Carlo
• Schumacher’s Monaco penalty will stand after Mercedes withdraw appeal
• 2010 Monaco Grand Prix – the complete F1 Fanatic race weekend review
• Should slower cars let the front runners pass when racing for position? (Poll)
• This time Vettel denies Webber a perfect result (Monaco GP stats and facts)
• Alonso’s mammoth stint and McLaren’s smart move
• Monaco Grand Prix fastest laps
• The FIA’s badly-written rules leave Formula 1 looking stupid once again
• Monaco Grand Prix in pictures