Jenson Button once again got pole position this season at Monaco Grand Prix. Despite his struggle in early stages of Qualify today he did an exceptional lap at dying moments of Q3 and secured pole position. Raikkonen was second just 0.025 seconds behind Button despite he was the fastest man in Q2 with almost six tenths quicker than last years best Q2 time. Barrichello from Brawn was third ahead of Vettel in fourth who didn’t seem to be on pace this week. Massa was fifth who crashed his car at the beginning of Q1 but was lucky enough to continue. Rosberg was sixth, Kovalainen seventh and Webber was eight before tomorrow’s race.
The real drama was Hamilton’s crash at first session after posting the best first sector time. Hamilton seemed very strong all week here and he could deliver a very strong performance today if he didn’t crash. Another big surprise was seeing both cars of teams BMW and Toyota to be knocked out in Q1 while Force India and Torro Rosso drivers were in top 15. Car weights are yet to be published by FIA, but most of the time strategy is more important at this circuit than the raw speed.
Jenson Button wins Spanish Grand Prix as this is his fourth victory of this season. Despite he has been passed by Barrichello at the start, Brawn changed him to a two stop strategy while Rubens was on a three stop. Barrichello finished second ahead of Webber who has made best use of softer tyre in his second long stint. He is followed by team mate Vettel. Vettel’s race passed at the rear of Massa thankls to a good start with use of KERS.
Due to a fuel rig problem at Mass’s last pit stop, Massa was forced to conserve fuel and drop two places during the closing laps. Alonso passed Massa at last lap while he was 16 seconds behind him until Massa started to slow down. Alonso finished fifth. Massa finished sixth just 1.6 seconds in front of Heidfeld. The last point scorer was Rosberg ashe finished eight.
Button will start tomorrow’s race from pole position as he secured his third pole position of this season. He managed to start his last flying lap in Q3 when just a couple of seconds left to the finish and he described his last lap as the best of the weekend after qualifying. Vettel was second only one tenth of a second slower than Button. Barrichello was third as he was first until the very last moments of Q3.
Another good performer of Qualifying was Massa who will start fourth on the grid, the only man with KERS at top ten. He was fastest at Q1 and was only two tenths slower than the fastest man Barrichello in Q2. It seems Ferrari improved a lot after their latest updates. Webber will start fifth in front of both Toyota’s as Glock sixth and Truli seventh. Countryman Alonso was eight fastest as he managed to pass to Q3 at last second. The last two drivers at top ten was Rosberg and Kubica who will start ninth and tenth respectively.