Raikkonen takes first pole for nine years, Hamilton starts midfield in Monaco

2017 Monaco Grand Prix qualifying

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Kimi Raikkonen stormed to his first pole position since 2008 by beating Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas by less than half a tenth after Lewis Hamilton was eliminated in Q2.

A thrilling and competitive qualifying session saw Ferrari lock out the front row for the second race weekend in three races. Valtteri Bottas only just missed out on second by two-thousandths of a second, with Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo starting fourth and fifth respectively.

Lewis Hamilton was caught out by a late yellow flag in Q2 after struggle to find grip in his Mercedes, he will start 13th on the grid for the Monaco Grand Prix.

Q1

Track temperatures topped 50 degrees as qualifying began in Monaco. There was a rush of cars who took to the circuit, with the Ferraris, Red Bulls and Mercedes all out straight away on ultra soft tyres.

As in final practice, it was the second timed lap that was proving the quickest. Ferrari set the early pace with Vettel posting a 1’13.289, with Mercedes only managing high 1’13s, until Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen lowered the quickest times in the Red Bulls.

After crashing in final practice, Esteban Ocon took to the circuit with ten minutes in the session after Force India successfully repaired the Frenchman’s car.

Romain Grosjean spun his Haas at Mirabeau, leaving him vulnerable in the drop zone. As time expired, there was a straight fight between the two Frenchmen of Ocon and Grosjean to make it through into Q2, with Grosjean able to improve enough on his last lap to eliminate the Force India driver.

Jolyon Palmer was also eliminated in P17, almost a second off Nico Hulkenberg’s pace, with Lance Stroll failing to make it through the first session after a suspected hydraulic leak on his Williams.

The two Saubers of Pascal Wehrlein and Marcus Ericsson were the slowest in the session, with Ericsson clipping the inside barrier at the chicane forcing him out with a broken left-rear wheel.

Drivers eliminated in Q1

PositionDriverTeamLap time
16Esteban OconForce India1’14.101
17Jolyon PalmerRenault1’14.696
18Lance StrollWilliams1’14.893
19Pascal WehrleinSauber1’15.159
20Marcus EricssonSauber1’15.276

Q2

The second session began in similiar fashion to the first. This time, Kimi Raikkonen set the early benchmark, with Verstappen, Vettel and Bottas remarkably close behind.

Lewis Hamilton’s first run almost ended in disaster when the Mercedes driver lost grip heading into Casino Square, but was able to catch a major slide and somehow avoid the outside banner. Hamilton was later heard complaining of a lack of grip.

Grosjean produced a good lap to go provisionally sixth fastest, but tapped the barrier at St Devote with his left front at the start of his next lap.

With time ticking down, Hamilton was still in the drop zone and needed to improve, but with visible oversteer and traffic, it was a nervous time for Mercedes.

Then, with only seconds remaining, Stoffel Vandoorne crashed his McLaren at the Swimming Pool in a virtually identical manner to Esteban Ocon in final practice. Hamilton was the next car on the scene and was forced to abandon his flying lap due to the double-waved yellow flags. With no time left to improve, Hamilton was doomed to start at least 12th.

Despite strong practice pace, Daniil Kvyat was eliminated in 11th, with Hulkenberg, Kevin Magnussen and Felipe Massa’s Williams the other cars failing to make it through into Q3.

Jenson Button made it into Q3 on his one-off return for McLaren, but Stoffel Vandoorne’s crash meant that despite the rookie making it into the final session on pace, he would not have the opportunity to take any further advantage from it.

Drivers eliminated in Q2

PositionDriverTeamLap time
11Daniil KvyatToro Rosso1’13.516
12Nico HulkenbergRenault1’13.628
13Kevin MagnussenHaas1’13.959
14Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’14.106
15Felipe MassaWilliams1’20.529

Q3

With Hamilton not progressing through into the crucial final qualifying session, the door now seemed wide open for Ferrari to secure a second consecutive front row lockout.

Kimi Raikkonen once again set the early benchmark with a 1’12.296, with Ricciardo and Vettel both seven tenths off from the Finn.

With Raikkonen improving his time to a 1’12.178 with the chequered flag looming, it appeared that the Ferrari driver could take his first pole since the French Grand Prix of 2008. Sebastian Vettel went purple in the first two sectors, but lost time in sector three and missed out on pole by less than half a tenth.

It came down to Valtteri Bottas to snatch pole for Mercedes, but he was unable to best the Ferraris and finished third, 0.002s behind Vettel.

Red Bull were only three tenths from pole with Max Verstappen, with Ricciardo lining up fifth. Carlos Sainz will start sixth in the Toro Rosso, followed by Sergio Perez and Romain Grosjean.

Jenson Button took ninth for McLaren, but will start from the back of the grid after a 15-place grid penalty. Stoffel Vandoorne will start 13th after his penalty from Spain.

PositionDriverTeamLap time
1Kimi RäikkönenFerrari1’12.178
2Sebastian VettelFerrari1’12.221
3Valtteri BottasMercedes1’12.223
4Max VerstappenRed Bull1’12.496
5Daniel RicciardoRed Bull1’12.998
6Carlos SainzToro Rosso1’13.162
7Sergio PérezForce India1’13.329
8Romain GrosjeanHaas1’13.349
9Jenson ButtonMcLaren1’13.613
10Stoffel VandoorneMcLarenNo Time Set

2017 Monaco Grand Prix

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Author information

Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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121 comments on “Raikkonen takes first pole for nine years, Hamilton starts midfield in Monaco”

  1. If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands
    *clap* *clap*

    1. You were right @huhhii! Well played.

      1. Hes right every 9th year ;)

        1. @rethla Actually I’m not right even that often! I usually trust in Kimi, but remembering the past few years I didn’t have confidence in him and placed Vettel for pole in my prediction…

      2. @john-h I try to keep myself as calm as possible. To quote myself, weekend is far from over. The whole weekend could go down the drain tomorrow because of wrong pit strategy, miserable start etc. but who knows, maybe it’s Kimi’s day tomorrow?

    2. I’m happy and I clap my hands (clap, clap), but I manage my expectations. There’s no way Ferrari will allow Kimi to beat Vettel tomorrow. Kimi’s only chance to win involves Vettel having a major setback, like a crash or a horrible start. Failing that, Ferrari will make sure Vettel finishes ahead, using pit stop strategy or whatever it takes.

      1. Sundar Srinivas Harish
        28th May 2017, 2:25

        Given Ferrari’s (and mine) recent comments about Kimi’s form, it would be hypocritical of them to issue team orders and make him bow to Seb. Pole is great, but a win at this point would really vindicate the man. I really hope Mauritzio isn’t like the previous chaps at the team.

        1. Looks like they are a bit hypocritical indeed :/

      2. I think Ferrari may just let Kimi beat Vettel if Hamilton is mostly out of the picture. That’s probably a big if though. If Hamilton manages to get to the top 5 in the first stint, Ferrari will definitely get Vettel out front, but if Hamilton is still outside the points, they might let Kimi stay out front. That’s a lot of ifs that could all go straight out the window at turn one though.

    3. To be honested? Max will jump on them in the first round, defend like a boss and win the race. End of story and have a nice night, sleep well Xxx

      1. Remember that whether Ferrari will issue Team Orders to get Vettel ahead of Raikkonen might be academic to some extent. Vettel has a much better record starting off the front row and he has been getting some good ones with that new gizmo that he has. He could jump ahead of Kimi at the first turn.

  2. He sounded ecstatic on the radio!

  3. What a lap from Raikkonen, and from all the top 3 in fact. All within half a tenth of each other, insane!

    Also liked the “tactical Vandoorne” to make sure Button got into Q3 ;)

    And Hulkenberg of course annihilating Palmer.

    1. Also, with this hype for Raikkonen’s first pole in 9 years – just seen that apparently the cars he’s been driving since than have only had 2 poles since then anyway, Vettel in 2015 Singapore and Russia this year. So it’s not like he’s had no poles and his team mates have had like 20.

      1. Good point!

        1. I love Kimi! So stoked for tomorrow.

      2. @hugh11, whilst that is true, even when Kimi has had a car that was a championship winning car, he still picked up relatively few pole positions.

        In 2008, he picked up just two pole positions whilst Massa picked up six that year: it was a similar situation in 2007, where Massa had six poles to three for Kimi. Equally, although 2016 saw him being reasonably competitive in qualifying, in 2015 and 2014 he was heavily outqualified by his team mates and, up until now, was being about as badly beaten this year as he had been by Vettel in 2015.

        1. Kimi almost had pole in Russia this year. Vettel snatched it on the final run by less than half a tenth. Kimi has been fast this year, but his consistency hasn’t been good.

  4. Looks like the old dog can still learn new tricks :)

    1. The Old Dog always knew his tricks but somehow did not apply them….till this afternoon. Great job Kimi and well done Vettel as well for the front row lockout.

      I wounder what Bottas considers (or more likely, be made to consider) where his “duty” lies?

      1. Sundar Srinivas Harish
        28th May 2017, 2:29

        No way Bottas will be made to move over for Hamilton. No effin’ way, given the fact that he has been faster since FP2, and that the latter is all the way down in the midfield. He’ll have enough trouble passing 4 Red Bulls, nevermind catching up to Bottas.

        1. No way Bottas will be made to move over for Hamilton. No effin’ way, given the fact that he has been faster since FP2, and that the latter is all the way down in the midfield. He’ll have enough trouble passing 4 Red Bulls, nevermind catching up to Bottas.

          True, but with two WDC leaders so close on points, Merc might try to persuade Bottas to “help” his teammate in other ways to put off Vettel. Losing one’s concentration even momentarily at Monaco can ruin one’s race and often it does not even need another car to be involved. I don’t know if you are old enough to remember what happened to Senna in the 1988 Monaco GP when he was leading by a ridiculous margin.

          1. Sundar Srinivas Harish
            28th May 2017, 10:46

            Haranguing Vettel also works to the benefit of Bottas, so I think he would gladly do it.

            I don’t know if you are old enough to remember what happened to Senna in the 1988 Monaco GP when he was leading by a ridiculous margin.

            Well, I was born in ’94, and the earliest races I remember featured Kimi, Alonso, Montoya and Schumi. But yes, I’ve heard Ben Edwards mention it every damn time the camera focuses on the lead car in Monaco.

  5. My man Kimi! Great job, good to see him back. Set up wonderfully for tomorrow, good fun.

    1. It was the incident with the young crying fan last race, which has fired Kimi all up again:-) It will be interesting tomorrow to see how it unfolds, despite RIC’s pessimistic “The race is today!” comment, because he was dissapointed with Quali.

  6. Ferrari winning development war? Since 1st race they seem to have maintained their race pace advantage and now level or better in qualifying. Merc hanging on in by throwing the dice on strategies and having the rub of the green with safety cars. Bets on Vettels pit stop being faster than Raikkonens tomorrow to put him in 1st place.

  7. PLEASE Ferrari PLEASE, let Kimi win tomorrow. For the love of God, NO TEAM ORDERS!

    1. +++ Ameen

      1. AMEN!!!!!!

        1. Amen!

    2. @carbon_fibre Kimi….is faster…..than…..you…….

      Because this time your exhaust is acting up, not Kimi’s

    3. Count me in…Go Kimi!

  8. looking forward for a kimi and Alonso win tmro

    1. No doubt!

  9. People might be saying that Vandoorne did that on purpose to let Button into Q3, but Lewis should have got his lap earlier. Sochi all over again, this mercedes car needs some proper tuning for Lewis.

    1. And Lewis held up Mag and prevented him from joining Gros in Q3, because Haas didn’t get Mag on track in time.

    2. They would be stupid to say that, as Button’s qualifying didn’t matter anyway, while Vandoorne himself could have qualified in P6 or P7 and thus started in the top 10 even with his penalty.

  10. God did I cheer on this one, my neighbours might show up…

  11. Bwoah!

  12. YES! Best qualy of the season so far, though its Monaco and it usually is the most important qualy session of the year for drivers, not for Lewis, bad luck and timing there. Vettel may just afford to keep P2 if he doesn’t mess up start given his points lead. Boy am I a happy man.

    Great showing from Bottas given the car hasn’t really gotten to grips with the Circuit at all.

  13. Libertini (@)
    27th May 2017, 14:05

    yes, that’s the 2007 world champion, right there!

  14. Ferrari Garage: “It’s pole Kimi!”
    Kimi: “Yes, thank you” (as if he just woke up)

    I really love this guy!

    1. Kimi: “Yes, thank you”

      You did not hear the full transcript! Kimi added “Make it vanilla please!”

      1. I think you nailed the motivational factor. Ferrari finally threatened to cut off his ice cream supply.

  15. Awesome. Just goes on to prove he still has a few tricks up his sleeve. Never count him out.

    Great performance by all in the top 3. Its going to be an exciting race.

    Will be interesting to see how Hamilton manages his race tomorrow.

  16. Wasn’t Mercedes supposed to be struggling here? I guess no one told Bottas. Great job from Kimi, I have waited so long for this. And Sainz as well, he just keeps on impressing more and more.

    1. Kvyat was improve his time on the lap that was ruined by Vandorne. So who knows where Sainz could be.

    2. Sundar Srinivas Harish
      28th May 2017, 2:35

      Magnussen as well, although not by Vandoorne. Having both Kvyat as well as K-Mag in the top 10 would’ve been interesting.

  17. Hilarious to listen to James Allen’s disappointment on the FIA’s press conference. Old ITV memories, he really didn’t like Kimi.

    1. Curious – how do the on-board cameras look now?

    2. @peartree
      He sounded borderline depressed during the final laps of Brazil 2007. It was hilarious.

  18. Bwoah what a qualifying session that was

    Crashes. Surprise eliminations. Standout performances (from the two Finns of course). Had everything we could ask for in a qualifying session as a fan.

    I’m just disappointed that Vandoorne binned it in Q2 otherwise he would’ve been one of the standout performances I mentioned.

  19. Bwoah.
    Still it can go terribly wrong tomorrow. Seb should look for points with Lewis so far back. I don’t think I’ll ever forgive Ferrari if they bottle this.

    I think in every country the broadcast was like this in Q3.
    “Did you know Kimi’s last pole was back in 2008?”
    OMG just shut up.

    1. I don’t think I’ll ever forgive Ferrari if they bottle this.

      Amen. Very happy for Kimi tomorrow, but Ferrari have caused me too much heartache over the years to be allowed to throw this away.

  20. Come on kimi!!

    1. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  21. Lol, what a good quali. I am so happy, last time I was this happy with a quali sessiion was when MSC stuck it on pole after few baren years aswell.

    Vettel was on it aswell, but bit more reserved. Bottas probably has done better than Ferraris as Merc just wasnt all that good. From onboard looked so on the edge, directly on it for entire lap.

    Then the shockers, Hamilton overtaken by both McLarens…. HAHA. I just laugh how luck played him again in Monaco. It always happens when you display public entitlement to more victories.

    Overall it was good.

    1. Vettel wasn’t ‘a bit more reserved’. He went wide two laps in a row from pushing too hard. It wasn’t until the last lap when he put it together – albeit with some interference from CS costing him.

  22. Not second consecutive front row lockout for Ferrari. Spain was after Russia wasn’t it? @keithcollantine

    1. @evered7 Correct. My mistake.

  23. Appears Kimi is back indeed. Well done.

    Verstappen half a second (!) quicker than Ric is also quite impressive, especially after last year.

    But my main thought is what position Alonso could have secured had he competed, considering Vandoorne’s performance and the huge difference between them this season so far. 5th?

    1. Car’s not making it quite clear but Verstappen is having a great season

    2. “the huge difference between them this season so far.”

      Alonso could have qualified 5th even if you don’t consider the huge gap between him and Vandoorne so far in the season, considering Ricciardo’s terrible lap…and that Vandoorne’s best lap in Q2 was only 0.248 slower than Ricciardo’s best in Q3…but, you’ll never know.

      To be honest, considering Vandoorne’s credentials, I think he will definitely improve a lot. Just because Alonso has been significantly faster than Vandoorne so far, doesn’t mean it will stay that way forever. Vandoorne has just 6 races to his name. It’s possible that he found his groove and was just driving really fast today, and had Alonso participated, he would not have been a lot faster than Vandoorne, if at all.

      Anyway, it’s all “if’s” and “but’s” and “could’ve” here. Alonso is at Indy 500, and there’s not much point thinking about what he could have done in Monaco.

      1. @neutronstar Theres no ifs and buts. Alonso went to Indy fully knowing Monaco was McLarens best shot this season.

        1. @rethla Yeah but he’s not in Monaco, is he? What’s the point of speculating how much faster he could have been than Vandoorne…when there’s no way to know?

    3. Even if Alonso would have possibly qualified as high as 5th as some assert, he would have been driving the car Button is in, and would then have been demoted to the back of the grid by the engine penalty.

      No matter how you slice the ifs and could’ves, Indy still is a much better way for him to spend his weekend.

      Here’s hoping his Indy Honda engine doesn’t let him down. That would be brutal.

  24. Neil (@neilosjames)
    27th May 2017, 14:20

    Gutted about Vandoorne! Was driving beautifully up to that point, even with a 3-place grid drop I think he’d have started in the top 10…

    1. Ah what a blow!

  25. BWOAH YESS! Go Kimi Go! Been waiting for this for 9 years, and we get it at THE most important and prestigious race of the season! Fantastic work by Kimi and Ferrari! Man, I swear if we get a 1-2 tomorrow with Kimi winning, I’ll jump into the Monaco swimming pool naked.

    1. He needs a stellar flying start, you know Sebastian will get one.

  26. If Bottas gets ahead of Vettel at the start, the race is Raikkonen’s to lose. If Vettel remains where he starts, then Ferrari have an interesting situation to face.

    1. Yes. But with Lewis being so far back maybe they’ll let Kimi have this one and Vettel gets a solid points gap.

      1. @scuderia_fan85, I think that it is unlikely – with the concerns Ferrari have had in recent races over reliability and the potential for grid penalties later in the year, I would expect that they want Vettel to secure the maximum possible points haul now in case Hamilton can eat into his points lead later in the year.

  27. Boy, the F1 meme pages are going to go nuts.

  28. First of all good Job Raikkonen. This just proves that Ferrari is the best car right now. Slow corners, fast corners, stability. All types of tracks the Ferrari just performs whereas as the performance of the Mercedes varies a lot. Good job Bottas at the end to get so close but that could be due to the Q3-special mode on Mercedes. The Ferrari was consistently faster and the average lap times much faster. Wont be surprised if Ferraris disappear into the distance tomorrow.

  29. Did any one hear Maurizio Arrivabene on radio to kimi.. what a pathetic tone in which he congratulated kimi. He seemed so disappointed. It is clear they wanted vettel to take the pole. I already feel they will mess up kimi tomorrow unless God wont let them…

    1. I agree. I read an Arrivabene comment where he mentioned that Vettel had a moment in Turn 5, implying Seb could of had pole. Bene is always boosting up Seb, never Kimi. IMO, he wants Seb to win, not Kimi.

  30. Strategy wise, Kvyat is now in the best possible place to score a podium atleast.

  31. Sweet! bravo Kimi!

  32. It’s good Rosberg quit, I don’t think Mercedes couldn’t have afforded to have him now that things get competitive… Bottas showing what he’s made of.

    1. nelson piquet
      27th May 2017, 14:49

      why couldn’t they? i think rosberg would have the pole

      1. Probably indeed! Monaco, dry and sunny would have been ideal for him.

    2. @maza What? I am completely lost as to why one would even dare claim Bottas is better than Rosberg. Bottas might have the potential but I highly doubt Rosberg would’ve done worse today.

      1. Before Bottas sat in a Mercedes i was sure he was better than Nico but now i dont know.

      2. Agreed, Rosberg was a Monaco specialist and 2016 withstanding brilliant around the track, can’t help but think he would have been closer to Kimi than Bottas.

        1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
          27th May 2017, 16:24

          @ju88sy

          It would be a bit difficult to be closer to Kimi than Bottas was. 0.045 is barely anything. But if Rosberg has beaten Kimi by more than 0.045 seconds he still will have been even further away from Kimi’s time than Bottas. But just ahead not behind :D Anyway, IMO, I feel that Bottas pretty much maxed what the car was capable of.

          1. True, the margins are very marginal!

    3. Sundar Srinivas Harish
      28th May 2017, 2:40

      That’s a hateful statement. The man’s retired, but y’all still gotta go stomping on his yard.

    4. @maza
      Hahaha, because Rosberg’s career began in 2014 right?

  33. Slow that bandwagon down I want to jump on

  34. that pole lap from kimi was fantastic. I got the reminiscent of his monaco 2005 pole. On the ragged edge of his perfomance I would say. Its nice to see he still got it

  35. Bottas was the star of qualifying,
    mercedes were on the back foot from practise 2, and there highest paid driver could not put it together while Bottas got oh so close to the pole time when everyone did not expect it.

  36. Vettel was purple and green in sectors one and two. I don’t know how you saw purple in sector two.. @willwood

  37. first pole in 9 years, but please consider he has only had the car to achieve pole in about 5 or so races in that time. well done to him.

  38. Everytime Hamilton is about to equal a stat/record something is happening. In 2015 all of a sudden they lacked performence in Singapore 2015 only for the next race to decimated the field again. Rumours are already going Pirelli are pressuring the tires to benefit Ferrari.

  39. Michael Brown (@)
    27th May 2017, 15:58

    Almost a perfect lap from Kimi; he had oversteer in turn 1 and missed the apex in Portier. But my goodness, what a lap. I’ve never seen Tabac and Piscine driven like that!

    Kimi for the win tomorrow!

  40. mark jackson
    27th May 2017, 16:15

    Man, I hope an ill-timed safety car or Ferrari favoring Seb doesn’t take screw Kimi tomorrow. Would love to see Kimi win.

  41. What was most impressive was how many laps Raikkonen did at that pace, clearly the quickest driver today despite Vettel and Bottas eventually getting within a chuff of his best.

  42. Amazing pole lap from Kimi.

  43. I don’t like Lewis that much but i feel like this Mercedes team behaved like a bunch of amateurs .I don’t think it was he’s fault for qualifying that badly .

    1. Sundar Srinivas Harish
      28th May 2017, 2:42

      Bottas got in quite early, what or who stopped Lewis from doing the same? When you’re dealing with a multiple world champion and all-time record holder, his opinion matters more than the nerds (no offense) behind the computers. I’m certain that the call for a later run was made by Lewis.

      1. Sundar Srinivas Harish, the radio commentary mentioned that Hamilton was called into the weigh bridge by the stewards between his runs, which meant that he couldn’t start his final attempts until later in the session than planned. In that case, it really was a case of a poor first run then being compounded by unlucky timing with the random weight check.

  44. If only the SkyF1 folks could just stop talking about Button as if he was the greatest thing in the world, and a saviour to McLaren! It was painful to hear so much hype from Croft, while Stoffel was faster and had a lot more chances to progress, despite his error… so incredibly annoying!

    1. Scuderiaharry
      27th May 2017, 17:02

      I couldn’t agree with you more. I know he’s back but he will not do legendary stuff. Vandoorne was quicker in every session(not Q3), maybe with small margins but he was ahead and hecould’ve been p5 or 6 because he was close.

      1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
        27th May 2017, 18:14

        Yes, small margins better from Vandoorne – who has been in the team all year. Where as Button has just returned and almost matched him and then beat him in qualifying. I think Vandoorne had been worryingly poor this season so far….. Making a huge mistake last race then another crash here. Not that other drivers haven’t done exactly the same as he did here over the years but it is still much better to avoid it!

        I agree there was too much Button Bias on sky though. Channel 4 was much less irritating when it came to this.

    2. MG421982 (@)
      27th May 2017, 17:31

      Yeah, ridiculous and annoying indeed… but this the media of 2017, no matter the field of work. Business ( = money) first!!! In my country the term “bomb news” it’s used a lot by many news/politics channels. It’s “funny” to see the word “bomb” used so much given the number of terrorist attacks around the world since 2011. One might think they would avoid that word on purpose… but it’s not the case.

  45. He is just lucky that Mercedes didnt give Hamilton the car to fight for pole. Something definitely wrong there. With same setup as Bottas (according to Lauda) it was two different cars between the two. mercedes better sort their stuff out before it is too late. Best thing Hamitlon can do tomorrow is block vettel.

    1. And how is he supposed to block Vettel?

      1. If Vet drops behind him after a pit stop

        1. Yeh.. thats a long shot.

    2. Mercedes gave Hamilton the same car as Bottas, Hamilton just couldn’t make the tyres work like Bottas did.

      1. Sundar Srinivas Harish
        28th May 2017, 2:46

        I love your profile pic :P

  46. MG421982 (@)
    27th May 2017, 17:20

    Great, happy for him and for the team. Wish he’ll win the race too, but I want a lot more Ferrari to win any of the titles, so maybe it’s better to let VET win. 7 points could be decisive, especially that BOT still is in cards to take the WDC and also because of possible penalties to come for Ferrari. Vettel didn’t look happy and I can understand that… although dunno what was the real reason. Wasn’t happy with his performance, wasn’t happy because RAI is in front and if he finishes ahead most people will say Ferrari screwed RAI’s race to favour VET, who knows! A Ferrari 1-2 finish (no matter the order) would be awesome!

  47. I don’t see Kimi being in the lead by the first corner. . I don’t think he’s back. This pole was a once off.

  48. As a Lewis fan I’m gutted with the qualifying results but I’m equally happy with for Kimi. What a lap!! Looking forward to a Kimi victory. I hope everything goes well tomorrow and he does’nt lose out at the start. And hope that Ferrari for once do not use team orders.

  49. Great pole by the Iceman and thrilling qualifications overall! Can’t wait for the race!

  50. Language thing – “first poll for 9 years.”

    Is that a typo or is that how it’s said in the UK? In NA it would be *IN* 9 years.

    Not hating, just a light-hearted question.

Comments are closed.