Webber dominates in Monaco qualifying round
Mark Webber stormed to pole position in Monaco to continue Red Bulls dominations and wipe out any doubts, that Monte Carlo was not the circuit for Red Bull.
The Australian’s lap time of 1 minute 13.826 seconds beat Kubica, who was the fastest prior to Webber with a brilliant lap of 1 minute 14.104 seconds.
While Sebastian Vettel finished 3rd, followed by Felipe Massa from Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton was 4th in his McLaren. Nico Rosberg got the 6th spot on the grid; Michael Schumacher was in 7th, followed by the current world champion Jenson Button from McLaren. Rubens Barichello from Williams and Force India’s Vitantonio Liuzzi completed the top 10.
The big absence from the qualifying round was Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, who crashed into the barriers during the last practice session earlier on Saturday morning. Which caused serious damage to his car’s chassis, omitting him from qualifying round, as his car could not be repaired in time.
Felipe Massa was on song when he produced his best display in qualifying for the season, Massa was fastest in the initial part of qualifying round, before eventually getting the 4th spot with the time of 1 minute 14.283 second.
Red Bull once again came up with the answers amid all the speculations before the race, about their ability to handle the sharp turns at Monaco. Red Bull also continued their record of finishing pole in every race as Webber claimed his 3rd top spot.
After the race Webber said it was a bit of a blur to be honest," adding further that "I told the team it was all about lap three and four. It all came together in that lap, the car was a pleasure to drive and I am delighted because the guys have worked really hard. To get pole at Monaco is obviously a great feeling so I am really pleased."
Kubica was the fastest in Mornings practice session, and his performance in qualifying round was visibly his best for the season. He improved his best time, which he set in Malaysia claiming the 6th position on the starting grid.
Vettel who has had 3 poles this season got his fastest time of one minute 14.227, which placed him on the 2nd row in the grid.
The tight and challenging turns in Monaco made sure that the qualifying round remained competitive throughout, Hamilton with 1:14.432 seconds and Rosberg with 1:14.544 and Schumacher with 1:14.590 all posted brilliant times.
However, like many others each of them was faced by some congested traffic on the tracks, leading to frustration among the drivers. There had been a lot of talk about the new teams being the reason for jams on the track, however the most notable culprits were Button and Massa, as Massa slowed down while going into Anthony Noghes hence obstructing the returning Monaco champion.
Massa though did not take responsibility "It was at the beginning of the run, there was a car in front of me that backed off, so I backed off. It's like I lost my last run. These things can happen. Nothing you can do."
The Monte Carlo Circuit did throw up the number of traffic problems, and close chases in qualifying round which were anticipated even before the race. But the biggest upset of the event was Red Bull proving to its rivals that they will not be able to cope with Monaco’s unique street circuit. Webber getting a pole put down all those speculations nicely and throwing another warning to the rest, that this season may well see the Bulls flying with wings far away from the big boys of the sport.
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