Daniel Ricciardo has won pole for tomorrow’s Monaco GP, the first pole victory for the Red Bull driver. Rosberg finished second after a close battle between him and Ricciardo, Hamilton managed to finish third even after missing a good part of Q3 due to power loss. The world champion made it back to the track with six minutes left on the clock before claiming P3.

A disappointed Vettel finished fourth and ended the final session cursing at the tires, Hulkenberg rounded off the top five. Ferrari’s Raikkonen finished sixth but will serve a five-place grid penalty tomorrow for a gearbox change.

2016 Monaco GP Qualifying Top Ten

1. Daniel Ricciardo – Red Bull
2. Nico Rosberg – Mercedes
3. Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes
4. Seb Vettel – Ferrari
5. Nico Hulkenberg – Force India
6. Kimi Raikkonen – Ferrari
7. Carlos Sainz – Toro Rosso
8. Sergio Perez – Force India
9. Daniil Kvyat – Toro Rosso
10. Fernando Alonso – McLaren-Honda

Pirelli has a new set of ultrasoft tires marked in purple available to the teams here in Monaco, other options include soft and supersoft. Round 5 winner Max Verstappen started from behind after going off in FP3, showing just how tight the Monaco GP circuit is, in fact, eight of the last ten winners have all started from P1.

Monaco GP Q1

Mercedes was the first to head out in Q1, followed by Ferrari and the Williams, that was before the Sauber of Felipe Nasr erupted in smoke after an engine failure.

After restart Hamilton had a clear track, his 1m14.8s lap was the fastest as more drivers began to roll out. All cars were on the new ultrasoft tires except for the Force Indias. Meanwhile, a 1m14.610s lap by Vettel put him in P1 dropping Hamilton to second, Rosberg was third followed by the two Red Bulls of Ricciardo and Kvyat.

Verstappen was the next victim on the circuit, hitting the Swimming Pool chicane hard enough before flying into the wall. The Dutchman joined Nasr in the retired list and will start from 21st place, he had not set a time prior to the crash which was caused by his front-right suspension failure.

The session was up and running again, the Monaco marshalls have been known to pull quick stunts while clearing cars off the track and thanks to them we didn’t have to wait longer than necessary. The top eight which comprised of Vettel, Hamilton, Rosberg, Ricciardo, Kvyat, Sainz, Raikkonen and Button chose to remain in their garages.

Those eliminated in Q1 were Ericsson, Palmer, Haryanto, Wehrlein, Verstappen and Nasr while

Monaco GP Q2

Kvyat was the first to head out in Q2 but was followed by the rest of the cars almost immediately besides the Williams. Most drivers were on the purple marked ultrasoft tire, and lots of fast laps began to roll in. Hamilton smashed the timesheet with a 1m14.5s lap to take P1 leading Rosberg, Ricciardo and Vettel.

Even with his second fastest time, Rosberg brushed the barriers on the same location where Verstappen crashed, but still managed to complete his flyer lap.

Ricciardo had managed to take P2 on the supersoft tire but didn’t last too long as Rosberg posted an even quicker lap on 1m14.043s to take P1. Hamilton, Vettel, Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Kvyat, Sainz, Perez, Hulkenberg and Alonso completed the top ten.

Eliminated in this session were Bottas, Gutierrez, Button, Massa, Grosjean and Magnussen. The top ten were only separated by a second!

Monaco GP Q3

Hulkenberg was the first man to set time in Q3 with a 1m15.1s lap which was beaten by Ricciardo’s 1m13.622s lap, Vettel took provisional P2. Hamilton’s car halted at the start after losing power and had to be pushed back to the garage. Rosberg’s second stint was good enough for P2 pushing Vettel to third, and Hamilton was finally out of the garage.

Hamilton’s 1m20.9s time was 7s off the pace of the leaders with 2 minutes left on the clock. In the end, Ricciardo claimed his first pole of the season leading the two Mercedes cars of Rosberg and Hamilton. Vettel came in fourth, leading Hulkenberg, Raikkonen, Sainz, Perez, Kvyat and Alonso.

Previous articleTop Gear Season 23 Episode 1
Next articleVideo: Hailstorm, Crashes and Mayhem at the 24 Hours of Nurburgring

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here