Monaco GP Qualifying: Silver is as Good as Gold
30 years ago Keke Rosberg won the Monaco Grand Prix. Fast forward 30 years and his son, Mercedes-Benz driver, Nico Rosberg has taken the first step toward repeating his father’s win in Monaco.
Mercedes-Benz once again asserted their dominance in Saturday qualifying, when the silver arrows were first and second fastest on the Monte Carlo street circuit in Monaco. Pole in Monaco was the team’s 4th in-a-row, and third straight for Rosberg.
Rosberg’s put together a dream weekend. So far he’s been the fastest man in the first, second, and third practice sessions. At the outset of qualifying, however, pole position looked a bit more dubious. Rain soaked the circuit. Enough that cars required the intermediate treaded wet tire to log a time in Q1.
Throughout Q2 the circuit dried out, and by Q3 the usual suspects hit the track shod with the soft compound, slick tire.
Late May normally means high, summer-like temperatures in the south of France, but with the rain the that had fallen earlier and unseasonably cool temperatures, many cars had problems getting the necessary heat into their tires.
Not the Mercedes-Benz cars of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton.
Straight away Hamilton set the benchmark time of the Q3 session. The Red Bull’s of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel responded by taking over the top spot.
When Rosberg finished his lap he was back on top, but there was time enough for everyone to have one last go around the street circuit.
Hamilton’s last qualification lap was a 1.3.976 and Mark Webber crossed shortly after unable to better the time set by the Brit.
Rosberg crossed next and had beaten Hamilton’s time with a 1.13.876. Vettel was the last contender to cross the line, but a few mistakes on his lap didn’t allow the German to pass or separate the Mercedes cars, and Rosberg had his third pole position running.
Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen were the men most affected by the cooler temperatures. Both were seen using their time on the track weaving back and forth trying to get front tire temperatures to their cars’ liking. Neither could do so and qualified 5th and 6th respectively.
Felipe Massa never made an appearance in the session as in the third and final practice session he suffered a massive crash in the first corner.
Lotus’ Romain Grosjean terrible weekend continued as he met the barriers at turn one for the second time this weekend. Stories of his team principle, Éric Boullier telling the Frenchman to “wake up!” have spread across the paddock. He never made it to Q3.
Can the Mercedes-Benz team finally sort out their race issues and lead start to finish?
Race starts at 8AM EST. As always make 6speed your Formula1 home. Check back tomorrow morning for a full race recap.