Daily Update Formula1 News

POLE POSITION GP MONTECARLO MONACO 2009
Pos Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3
1. Button Brawn-Mercedes (B) 1:15.210 1:15.016 1:14.902
2. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:15.746 1:14.514 1:14.927
3. Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes (B) 1:15.425 1:14.829 1:15.077
4. Vettel Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:15.915 1:14.879 1:15.271
5. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:15.340 1:15.001 1:15.437
6. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:15.094 1:14.846 1:15.455
7. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:15.495 1:14.809 1:15.516
8. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:15.260 1:14.825 1:15.653
9. Alonso Renault (B) 1:15.898 1:15.200 1:16.009
10. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:15.930 1:15.579 1:17.344
11. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:15.834 1:15.833
12. Piquet Renault (B) 1:16.013 1:15.837
13. Fisichella Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:16.063 1:16.146
14. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:16.120 1:16.281
15. Sutil Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:16.248 1:16.545
16. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:16.264
17. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber (B) 1:16.264
18. Kubica BMW-Sauber (B) 1:16.405
19. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:16.548
20. Glock Toyota (B) 1:16.788

Jenson Button took his fourth pole position of the season in a frenetic qualifying session for the Monaco Grand Prix.

The championship leader kept a relatively low profile for most of the hour, then charged to the front with his final Q3 lap, beating surprise front row man Kimi Raikkonen to the top spot by 0.025 seconds.

But there was disaster for last year's winner Lewis Hamilton, who had been tipped as a dark horse contender for pole given McLaren's faith in its Monaco package. The world champion crashed in Q1 and will start 16th.

Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) and Nico Rosberg (Williams) both held provisional pole early in Q3, before Raikkonen showed Ferrari's resurgent form by producing a 1m14.927s in the closing seconds.

But even as the Finn completed the lap, Button was going even faster, crossing the line a few seconds later to snatch pole away and further strengthen his championship prospects.

His Brawn team-mate Rubens Barrichello will start third, with Vettel and Rosberg falling back to fourth and sixth, split by Ferrari's Felipe Massa. The Brazilian was fortunate to escape a spin at the start of Q1 that saw him break his front wing as he swiped the Swimming Pool barriers.

Heikki Kovalainen salvaged some McLaren pride with seventh place, ahead of Mark Webber in the second Red Bull, Renault's Fernando Alonso, and Williams's Kazuki Nakajima, the latter making his first Q3 appearance of the year.

Hamilton spun into the Mirabeau barriers on his fifth lap in Q1, smashing his McLaren's right rear suspension and causing a brief halt to the session. Seventh on the timing screens at the time, he tumbled to 16th on the grid by the end of the segment.

All five Q1 departures were big names. Given the team's weekend-long struggle, it was not a big surprise to see the BMW Saubers sharing row nine, but Toyota's 19th and 20th places were a greater shock. Jarno Trulli blamed Fernando Alonso for blocking him at the final corner, while Timo Glock spun at the Swimming Pool on his last run.

That meant a host of underdogs could celebrate reaching Q2 - in particular Force India, which finally achieved its aim of progressing in qualifying with both cars.

Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil will start 13th and 15th, while Toro Rosso also enjoyed a good session with Sebastien Buemi and Sebastien Bourdais taking 11th and 14th, despite the latter having to rely on a very last minute effort to squeeze through to Q2.
Read More......

Jenson Button beat Sebastian Vettel and Rubens Barrichello to pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix with a stunning late lap.
The championship leader had appeared to be struggling to match his Brawn team-mate Barrichello's pace for most of the build-up, and fell as low as eighth as others completed their final runs in Q3.
But Button crossed the line to start his last lap just as the chequered flag fell, and proceeded to snatch pole away from Vettel (Red Bull) by 0.133 seconds.

Barrichello briefly held provisional pole before Button and Vettel improved, leaving the Brazilian third.
Felipe Massa showed Ferrari's best form of the year to take fourth after being fastest in morning practice and Q1.
That made up for his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen's disastrous session. The Finn had a poor first Q1 lap - 0.8s slower than team-mate Massa's session-topping effort - but still felt safe enough not to go for a second run. That proved complacent, for he was then pushed down to 16th and out of qualifying.
Mark Webber put the second Red Bull fifth on the grid, with late gains from Toyota's Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli pushing home crowd favourite down Fernando Alonso down to eighth for Renault.
Friday pace-setter Nico Rosberg was correct in his prediction that he would not challenge for pole. The Williams driver was only ninth, ahead of BMW's Robert Kubica.
Nelson Piquet had his best qualifying performance of the year and was on course for a top ten start until the final seconds of Q2, when other drivers' improvements edged the Renault drivers back to 12th, between Kazuki Nakajima (Williams) and Nick Heidfeld's repaired BMW Sauber.
McLaren fell back after its promising Bahrain weekend. Lewis Hamilton could only manage 14th, while Heikki Kovalainen fared worse still and was only quick enough for 18th position.
Sebastien Buemi again outperformed his Toro Rosso team-mate Sebastien Bourdais as they took 15th and 17th on the grid, and the Force Indias remained on the back row, Adrian Sutil half a second quicker than Giancarlo Fisichella this time.
Pos Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3
1. Button Brawn-Mercedes (B) 1:20.707 1:20.192 1:20.527
2. Vettel Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:20.715 1:20.220 1:20.660
3. Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes (B) 1:20.808 1:19.954 1:20.762
4. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:20.484 1:20.149 1:20.934
5. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:20.689 1:20.007 1:21.049
6. Glock Toyota (B) 1:20.877 1:20.107 1:21.247
7. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:21.189 1:20.420 1:21.254
8. Alonso Renault (B) 1:21.186 1:20.509 1:21.392
9. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:20.745 1:20.256 1:22.558
10. Kubica BMW-Sauber (B) 1:20.931 1:20.408 1:22.685
11. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:20.818 1:20.531
12. Piquet Renault (B) 1:21.128 1:20.604
13. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber (B) 1:21.095 1:20.676
14. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:20.991 1:20.805
15. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:21.033 1:21.067
16. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:21.291
17. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:21.300
18. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:21.675
19. Sutil Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:21.742
20. Fisichella Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:22.204
ref[AS]
Read More......

Sebastian Vettel gave Red Bull Racing its first pole position in qualifying at Shanghai, ahead of the resurgent Fernando Alonso.
Mark Webber added to Red Bull's delight with third on the grid, while the hitherto dominant Brawns were back in fourth and fifth, Rubens Barrichello ahead of Jenson Button.
Vettel opted to make only one run in Q2 and Q3, yet topped both sessions, taking a dry weather pole to follow his pole in the rain at Monza for Toro Rosso last year.
Red Bull looked set to sweep the front row until Alonso split them, proving that Renault's rapidly-introduced updates were already paying off.

Webber was pushed back from first to third in the closing seconds, with Barrichello dropping to fourth having held provisional pole following the first Q3 runs.
Jarno Trulli completed the top six for Toyota, followed by morning pace-setter Nico Rosberg's Williams.
Kimi Raikkonen took eighth in his Ferrari, with Lewis Hamilton producing his best qualifying performance of the season to take ninth for McLaren.
Toro Rosso's rookie Sebastien Buemi also enjoyed a breakthrough session, reaching Q3 for the first time and taking 10th.
Timo Glock's disastrous day continued. A new gearbox had been required after his practice failure, giving the Toyota a five-place penalty. Given that he only managed 14th in qualifying, that will translate to a back of the field start for the second time this year.
While Hamilton showed better form and Raikkonen at least maintained his Q3 run, their respective team-mates Heikki Kovalainen and Felipe Massa both failed to reach the top ten, taking 12th and 13th, just 0.001s apart.
Also unable to match their team-mates' progress into Q3 were Williams's Kazuki Nakajima, Toro Rosso's Sebastien Bourdais and Renault's Nelson Piquet, who filled positions 15 to 17.
BMW had another poor afternoon. Nick Heidfeld only just squeezed into Q2 and then took 11th, while his team-mate Robert Kubica had the worst qualifying session of his Formula 1 career, managing only 18th and getting knocked out in Q1 for the first time ever.
Force India remained mired at the tail of the field, 0.7s adrift of the pack. Adrian Sutil out-qualified Giancarlo Fisichella for the first time in 2009, beating the Italian by 0.003s.

Pos Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Laps
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:36.565 1:35.130 1:36.184 11
2. Alonso Renault (B) 1:36.443 1:35.803 1:36.381 21
3. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:35.751 1:35.173 1:36.466 19
4. Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes (B) 1:35.701 1:35.503 1:36.493 21
5. Button Brawn-Mercedes (B) 1:35.533 1:35.556 1:36.532 19
6. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:36.308 1:35.645 1:36.835 21
7. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:35.941 1:35.809 1:37.397 23
8. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:36.137 1:35.856 1:38.089 19
9. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:35.776 1:35.740 1:38.595 17
10. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:36.284 1:35.965 1:39.321 21
11. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber (B) 1:36.525 1:35.975 14
12. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:36.646 1:36.032 10
13. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:36.178 1:36.033 11
14. Glock Toyota (B) 1:36.364 1:36.066 14
15. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:36.673 1:36.193 13
16. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:36.906 10
17. Piquet Renault (B) 1:36.908 10
18. Kubica BMW-Sauber (B) 1:36.966 8
19. Sutil Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:37.669 10
20. Fisichella Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:37.672 10

All Timing Unofficial
ref[AS]

Read More......

Pos Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Laps
1. Raikkonen Ferrari 1:20.701 1:20.784 1:21.813 17
2. Alonso Renault 1:21.347 1:20.804 1:21.904 18
3. Massa Ferrari 1:21.528 1:20.584 1:22.058 16
4. Kubica BMW Sauber 1:21.423 1:20.597 1:22.065 13
5. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.366 1:20.825 1:22.096 14
6. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.430 1:20.817 1:22.231 15
7. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:21.494 1:20.984 1:22.429 19
8. Trulli Toyota 1:21.158 1:20.907 1:22.529 19
9. Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:21.466 1:20.815 1:22.542 20
10. Piquet Renault 1:21.409 1:20.894 1:22.699 18
11. Barrichello Honda 1:21.548 1:21.049 12
12. Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:21.690 1:21.117 15
13. Button Honda 1:21.757 1:21.211 12
14. Glock Toyota 1:21.427 1:21.230 16
15. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:21.472 1:21.349 15
16. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:21.540 1:21.724 15
17. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:21.810 6
18. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:22.108 10
19. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 1:22.516 11
20. Sutil Force India-Ferrari 1:23.224 8
21. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda 1:23.318 9
22. Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:23.496 9
ref [AS]

Read More......