Schumacher wins Monaco GP pole, Webber to start 1st

Michael Schumacher

Considered too old by F1 standards, Michael Schumacher, the winningest driver in F1 history showed the youngsters how it is done on the streets of Monaco Saturday by turning the fastest lap all weekend at 1m14.301s in qualifying for Sunday's Monaco GP.

However, Mark Webber, who was second fastest in his Red Bull, will start on pole because Schumacher has to serve a 5-place grid penalty after he collided with moving chicane Bruno Senna in Spain.

Schumacher's critics will be silent on Saturday as the seven time world champion aced qualifying at Monaco.

A multiple winner in the Principality, the Mercedes driver has often struggled since returning to F1 in 2010.

But he was the fastest on the Cote d'Azur on Saturday.

"I'm grateful to all the trust Mercedes had in me," said the delighted German.

"I'm able to give back a little bit in qualifying and hope I can give more back tomorrow."

Team boss Ross Brawn, who also worked closely with the 43-year-old German at Ferrari years ago, commented: "I have to confess it took a little tear from my eye."

Michael Schumacher

However, despite Brawn telling Schumacher on the radio he is a "little star", the German will in fact not start from pole, due to the five-place grid penalty imposed in Barcelona two weeks ago for running into Bruno Senna.

"The penalty is frustrating but that's the way it is," Brawn told the BBC.

"It is simply a wonderful feeling to set pole after such a long time, and particularly here in Monaco," said Schumacher. "Okay, it has taken a little bit longer than I might have wanted in the second chapter of my career, but that makes it even sweeter. It's just beautiful. We already thought that this circuit should suit us, and it's the perfect confirmation of all the work from every team member in Brackley, Brixworth and Stuttgart – a big thank you to every one of them, because this is a team result. Of course, it's unfortunate that I won't start from the very front but that's how it is. I will do as well as I can. We know that overtaking is tough but with DRS and KERS, you might as well try it – and you can be sure I will."

Nico Rosberg was third on the timesheet with Lewis Hamilton fourth, Romain Grosjean fifth and Fernando Alonso sixth.

"I am pleased with the result today and especially for what we have shown as a team in the past few weeks," said Rosberg. "We have had a couple of difficult races since the win in China but there has been a lot of hard work to turn it round, and today we were on top as a team which is great to see. Thank you to everybody back at base who has brought us back to the front again. I had a pretty smooth qualifying session, and managed to save two sets of new super soft tires for the race, but it was just so close out there this afternoon, it's incredible and fantastic for Formula One. Congratulations to Michael, he did a fantastic job. Of course, I am sorry for him that he must take the penalty, but that means I will be on the front row in Monaco. And at a race where overtaking can be so difficult, that's a great place to start."

Felipe Massa was seventh on the list ahead of Kimi Raikkonen eighth, Pastor Maldonado ninth and Sebastian Vettel rounding out the top 10.

Also penalized on Saturday was Barcelona winner Pastor Maldonado, who qualified ninth in his Williams.

The Venezuelan moves back ten places to a lowly nineteenth, with the stewards taking a dim view of his aggressive chop on Sergio Perez in morning practice.

Schumacher's penalty means Mark Webber will start Sunday's race from pole, with struggling Sebastian Vettel's sister Red Bull just tenth.

QUOTES

Red Bull-Renault

Mark Webber (2nd, 1:14.381): "It was a strong day, particularly this afternoon. It's normal around here that the momentum has got to build before qualifying and then you have to start putting it all together and the guys did a really good job on the car. I felt comfortable, which is important, you need to go to the absolute limit everywhere to get the maximum out of the car and squeeze everything you can. It's a great effort from the whole team; we had a lot to do on Thursday night, but the team reacted really well. It's Michael's day and he did a great lap, but we are right there and will have a good race tomorrow. It's been a happy hunting ground for me in the past – Monaco is a very special, unique challenge for the drivers."

Sebastian Vettel (10th, No Time): "It was a bit mixed up for me. It was looking very good this morning, but then I think we took a step in the wrong direction and ended up with a difficult car for qualifying. It's a bit of a disappointment, as Mark showed what the car can do around here, so we'll see what we can do tomorrow. It's Monaco and everything is possible here. We could be on a different strategy tomorrow as we're able to start the race on hard tires, slightly different to the cars ahead, so we'll see how the first stint goes and go from there. It's hard to predict, as it's a long race."

Christian Horner, Sporting Director: "A very interesting qualifying. Mark looked competitive in all three sessions and had a great last lap where he made up a lot of time in the last two sectors to take second place, which will become pole with Michael's penalty. It was a great performance by Mark and it's the best possible place to be starting the Monaco GP from. Sebastian appeared to struggle for pace through qualifying. He was never particularly happy with the car compared to this morning, which required him to run on options in Q1. He progressed through to Q3 on his second set of options, but based on what we could see pace-wise, we felt that it was better for us to have freedom of tire choice to start the race tomorrow. So, he carries a new set of options into the race, plus primes, so hopefully that gives some good strategic options."

Cyril Dumont, Renault: "Fantastic! Like the last two years, a Red Bull will start from pole position at the Monaco GP. It's really good for Mark, he did a really solid lap, so congratulations to him. For Seb, it was a bit more difficult. He struggled to get a good lap in and so we decided to put him on the harder tires for Q3, in order to have the option to start the race on either tire tomorrow. It makes the start wide open and should be an interesting race."

McLaren-Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton (4th, 1:14.583): "I've had a good feeling all weekend, but his afternoon was massively tough: one of my toughest qualifying sessions for some time, in fact. And there are two great drivers ahead of me who'll make it even tougher for me tomorrow. I'm fortunate to be one place higher owing to Michael's [Schumacher] penalty, but we struggled a little today, particularly with the very low-speed stuff. It was difficult to get the tires to 'switch on' and give us the grip we needed. Still, qualifying was so much fun – I really enjoyed it – and the tires and strategy can play a big part around here. If I get a good start, we'll suddenly be in fighting position for the win. Anything can happen at Monaco and I'll give everything tomorrow."

Jenson Button (13th, 1:15.536): "Monaco is all about qualifying – that's just the way it is – but I didn't quite have the pace this afternoon. The car felt good this morning and we looked strong, but then we couldn't translate that performance when it mattered. It's strange, because it's there at certain points of the weekend – even this morning, in P3, the car felt good and I was pretty happy. I'm hoping that our pace will be better in the race – but it's very tricky to overtake here. The drivers around me are going to be on the same strategy, so it's going to be tough, but as always we'll do our best. I've only finished in the points at Monaco three times before -in first, second and third positions. I hope I get another one of those tomorrow!"

Martin Whitmarsh, Team Principal: "Our car is reasonably good on the few high-speed corners there are here at Monaco, and it's pretty decent in terms of traction too. Under braking, however, we're slightly struggling because it would appear that we aren't managing to get quite enough energy into the tires. As a result of that, Jenson narrowly missed out on making it through to Q3. But it was an incredibly close qualifying session, as we've got used to seeing so far this season. Lewis, for example, lost a tenth or two at Sainte Devote on his first run in Q3, but his second run was strong and solid for the most part – and, as a result, he'll start tomorrow's race from P3. Obviously, here at Monte-Carlo, where it's notoriously difficult to overtake, you'd always prefer to be starting from the front row of the grid rather than heading up the second row – but the Monaco Grand Prix is always a long and grueling race, and there's no doubt that Lewis will be aiming to challenge the two cars ahead of him over the 78 laps. Moreover, tomorrow's weather conditions may well be changeable, we're told, which could make the shape of the race less predictable still. And, on this famously daunting street circuit, anything can happen, as we've seen so many times before."

Ferrari

Fernando Alonso (6th, 1:14.948): "In Italy there's a saying, 'he who goes slowly, goes well and goes far,' right? Well, that's what we are doing: step by step we are getting closer. I am happy with this qualifying, the best as a team that we have seen this season. I have had a good feeling all weekend long. Maybe in Q3, we could have shaved a few hundredths off here and there, but I don't think I'd have moved up any places, given that the driver in front of me is three tenths away. Usually here it falls to the top three on the grid to fight for the win, so I think that our realistic goal is a place on the podium, but we also know that surprises are the order of the day. We saw that again today, with Michael on pole: I was very pleased for him, even though he won't be able to make the most of it because of the penalty. This afternoon and tomorrow morning I will have to work along with the team to decide on the best strategy. The Softs behave well, but we will start on the Supersofts, therefore we go into it a bit blind in terms of how long they will last: we will find out in the race how they perform. In terms of the championship, it's a good grid, given that of the immediate rivals, only Hamilton starts ahead of us and Vettel is actually ninth. Michael alongside me on the grid? It's been a while, so it will be nice to have him close by, but I'll be concentrating on passing the four in front rather than thinking about the sixth placed man."

Felipe Massa (7th, 1:15.049): "It was a good qualifying and I could definitely have done even better than this seventh place: fifth was within my reach, given what we saw in Q1 and Q2. Unfortunately, in Q3 I did not manage to get a perfectly clean lap because of traffic, but that's an easy thing to find here. Having said that, I am very happy with how things have gone in this Grand Prix so far. Finally, I am having fun at the wheel of the F2012: clearly the set-up we have chosen here makes it much easier to make the most of its potential. It's a point to keep in mind for the rest of the championship too. We still struggle a bit in the places where traction is crucial, which can easily be seen by comparing our car, corner by corner with the best ones, however in this area too we have made progress. Michael did a great lap and I congratulate him: a shame that he will then find himself very close to me on the grid tomorrow afternoon. Let's hope we have a good race tomorrow and that a new championship can really get underway for me!"

Stefano Domenicali, Team Principal: "All in all, we can be pleased with the overall result of this qualifying, the first time this season that we have managed to get both our drivers through to Q3, I am particularly happy for Felipe who finally managed to show what he is capable of. As has more than ever been the case this year, all three parts that go to make up qualifying are very closely contested and it only takes the slightest thing to turn things on their head. Tomorrow's race will have everything going for it, from the first to the last lap. We know just how much the many imponderables in this race can affect the outcome and this time, there's the additional factor of tire behavior over a long run, given that no one was able to check on that during free practice. We must be ready to deal with any eventuality and react to every changing situation. Finally, I want to congratulate Michael Schumacher for his fantastic pole position: I think this result comes at the right time for him and on a track that has played a truly significant role in his career."

Pat Fry: "I don't think we could have done better in terms of performance. As I said yesterday, we have got closer to the quickest but not to the extent that we can fight for pole position. We still have work to do to close the gap. However, it's very positive to have finally managed to get both our drivers into Q3. Tomorrow, it will be very important to interpret the race strategy as well as possible because the number of variables in play is greater than usual, given that there is not enough data on tire behavior. I think we could witness quite a variety of strategies and we must do a good job of reacting to any eventuality: the Safety Car often plays a role at this track. On top of that, there is always a question mark as to the weather: at the moment it is not forecast to rain, but you never know what can happen here!"

Mercedes GP

Michael Schumacher (1st, 1:14.301* Schumacher will be penalized 5 grid positions for his incident with Bruno Senna in Spain): "It is simply a wonderful feeling to set pole after such a long time, and particularly here in Monaco. Okay, it has taken a little bit longer than I might have wanted in the second chapter of my career, but that makes it even sweeter. It's just beautiful. We already thought that this circuit should suit us, and it's the perfect confirmation of all the work from every team member in Brackley, Brixworth and Stuttgart – a big thank you to every one of them, because this is a team result. Of course, it's unfortunate that I won't start from the very front but that's how it is. I will do as well as I can. We know that overtaking is tough but with DRS and KERS, you might as well try it – and you can be sure I will."

Nico Rosberg (3rd, 1:14.448): "I am pleased with the result today and especially for what we have shown as a team in the past few weeks. We have had a couple of difficult races since the win in China but there has been a lot of hard work to turn it round, and today we were on top as a team which is great to see. Thank you to everybody back at base who has brought us back to the front again. I had a pretty smooth qualifying session, and managed to save two sets of new super soft tires for the race, but it was just so close out there this afternoon, it's incredible and fantastic for Formula One. Congratulations to Michael, he did a fantastic job. Of course, I am sorry for him that he must take the penalty, but that means I will be on the front row in Monaco. And at a race where overtaking can be so difficult, that's a great place to start."

Ross Brawn, Team Principal: "It was a wonderful qualifying session and we are obviously delighted. Michael will take a five-place penalty tomorrow, but today he was the quickest guy out there – congratulations to him. Nico did a fantastic job as well, and was in the hunt for pole throughout the session. Having both drivers in the top three shows that the team has done a superb job this weekend to dial in the car and follow the evolution of the track. But it was a real team effort today and my thanks also to everyone back at the factories in Brackley and Brixworth. Now, we have one more step to make. Last year, we suffered big problems with the tires at the beginning of the race. That is something we must avoid tomorrow."

Norbert Haug, Mercedes Motorsport Director: "What a phenomenal performance from Michael. He was the fastest man on track today when it counted and Michael truly deserves this P1 result. His five-place penalty puts him back on the third row while Nico will start from the front row tomorrow. Thank you to everybody in our team for a great effort today. Inside our team, our belief in Michael was never in danger and this has paid off big time."

Lotus-Renault

Romain Grosjean (5th, 1:14.639): "We are not as high on the grid as we wanted to be, but things were very tight today. I did a very good lap in the first part of Q3 but then I couldn't improve on my second set of tires. This was a shame because our strategy was perfect for the last part of qualifying. The traffic wasn't too bad but I missed out in sector two. I think pole position was within reach. P4 is not exactly where we wanted to be but the race will be long. It's Monaco, it will be difficult; nonetheless we know that the car is quite good on high fuel and with the tires, so let's see what we can do and put the best strategy into place."

Kimi Raikkonen (8th, 1:15.199): "For sure we're not very happy after that session. Since the first practice we've been a little bit behind where we should have been and we've been trying to catch-up. The car is fine, the biggest problem today was trying to get the tires working as it seemed to be a bit tricky to get them up to temperature. I could have been a bit faster on my best lap, but I went a little bit too deep in the swimming pool section. It's a bit disappointing but you can't get it right every time. At a normal race track you would be able to gain positions through overtaking, but in Monaco this is difficult. That said, anything can happen here so hopefully we can achieve something good tomorrow."

Alan Permane, Chief Race Engineer: "We've got it all to do… Disappointing. After the pace we saw in the car on Thursday and this morning we expected better. Monaco is a very difficult place to get everything exactly right on a lap and the penalties for making a mistake were seen elsewhere in qualifying, but nevertheless we thought we were a realistic prospect for a front row here so to miss out is a bitter pill to swallow. Overtaking is notoriously difficult here due to the narrow and twisty confines of the track. No matter what the tire performance or the presence of DRS, KERS or any other factor, a slower car can hold up a faster car for a long time here. Our best opportunity for a strong race result is for Thursday afternoon's rain to return or for there to be an eventful race to mix up the order. We will of course spend a long time looking at what we can do strategically as the E20 is generally easy on it's tires. Also Monaco can often throw up many surprises, so the podium is by no means out of reach. We certainly can't say it helped him. Kimi struggled to get sufficient heat in his tires today, even with the super soft compound, so he didn't feel he had sufficient grip to push harder. He needed one more set of super softs than Romain to get into Q3, so consequently had one fewer set than Romain in that session. Romain lost out in the second sector on his fastest lap and we will be looking to understand what went wrong. When you look at his times all through the weekend, and consider the track evolution, his qualifying lap was short of what we thought possible. But still, it's not a bad effort for a first F1 qualifying here. We do have both cars in the top ten which is good for our Constructors' Championship points potential. McLaren in second in the standings ahead of us have one car outside of the top ten so we have scope to do well against them, but equally it's a very close field."

Force India-Mercedes

Nico Hulkenberg (11th, 1:15.421): "I had a pretty good run in both Q1 and Q2 – managing to avoid the traffic and my quick lap in Q2 was pretty neat so I don't think I could have found more time. In fact, I almost set identical lap times in Q1 and Q2. So I'm pretty happy with where I'm starting and hopefully we can come away with some points tomorrow. It's always a fun race, a special place to be and we will be pushing hard to maximize the strategy and get a strong result."

Paul di Resta (15th, 1:15.718): "I felt pretty happy with the balance of the car during FP2 on Thursday, but unfortunately it didn't carry over for qualifying. We haven't changed much on the car, but I was struggling with the rear and with traction. So I'm not as far up the grid as I would like to be and it leaves us with a hard task tomorrow, especially because it's so difficult to overtake here. But we also know that Monaco can be an unpredictable race and I hope the strategy can help us fight back tomorrow."

Dr. Vijay Mallya, Team Principal: "It's well known that the qualifying hour in Monaco is the most important of the season, so we worked hard to make sure we had optimized the set-up for qualifying. Nico did an excellent job and only missed out on making Q3 by a tenth of a second. In fact, he was only half a second off the quickest time in Q2, which shows once again how closely-matched all the teams are. Paul didn't feel totally comfortable with his car, but I'm confident he can bounce back and have a strong race starting from P14. I always enjoy the Monaco Grand Prix and we've seen in the past that anything can happen here, so we will be targeting points finishes with both cars."

Sauber-Ferrari

Kamui Kobayashi (12th, 1:15.508): "Of course I had hoped for a better result today. With the super soft tire compound you only have one lap to set a good time. I managed to improve in Q2, but unfortunately not enough to be able to start in Q3. Nevertheless, the car was good and it will be good in the race, so I think we can improve tomorrow. A lot will also depend on our race strategy and some luck in terms of safety car periods, which can always happen here. I'm positive we can score good points tomorrow."

Sergio Perez (24th, No Time): "I am disappointed as I felt we could fight for a very good grid position here. We are still analyzing everything to see if there was something wrong with the car. I was on my first lap, so was not pushing a lot. I went into the tunnel and had a lot of understeer and then I went into turns 13 and 14. Thirteen was quite fine but in 14 I just went straight and didn't get the car to turn."

Peter Sauber, Team Principal: "I am disappointed and I expected a much better result."

Giampaolo Dall'Ara, Head of Track Engineering: "The car is definitely quicker than we showed today. We are very disappointed and we don't know what happened to Sergio. We are looking right now to see if there was a problem with the car. Then with Kamui, it was not a very good lap in Q2. The field is so tight here and our grid positions make things a lot more difficult for tomorrow, but we are in Monaco where anything can happen and we don't have to give up."

Toro Rosso-Ferrari

Daniel Ricciardo (16th, 1:15.878): "I enjoy this track a lot so I am disappointed with my qualifying position, because I thought I might have had a chance to do a bit better: top ten would have been optimistic but I had thought maybe twelfth was in reach. However, we didn't make that happen. I was relatively happy with the way I drove, but I did not manage to put all my best sector times together on one lap. I think I was overdriving at times and making a few mistakes. If I had managed the perfect lap, maybe that would have brought me a couple more tenths, but I was not good enough to go much further up the grid. It's tough to pass here, but we'll try our best for tomorrow. The opening lap will be a fine balance between keeping the car between the barriers and trying to make up some places. Who knows, maybe there will be some rain to help us out."

Jean-Eric Vergne (17th, 1:16.885): "I was expecting to do better, because my lap in Q1 was far from perfect and I thought I could put it all together for Q2 when we would have two runs, but my first one ended in the wall. I think I braked a bit on the bump at the exit to the tunnel and hit the outside wall, damaging the nose and also the right rear suspension, which is why I could not continue, even though I managed to drive slowly round to the pits. Let's see what we can do in the race, because anything can happen. Up until this afternoon's incident I felt quite good round here so I am still hopeful of having a good race tomorrow, maybe with a bit of rain to create some interesting situations."

Laurent Mekies, Chief Engineer: "Overall, this has been a difficult Saturday for us and our grid positions mean we will have a challenging afternoon tomorrow. However, as we know, the race here can often be unpredictable and we will have to fight very hard to make up some places relative to our main competitors ahead of us. As for Jean-Eric's qualifying accident, it is very difficult to blame our driver: this is his first time in Monaco in an F1 car and throughout free practice he made no mistakes. When a driver is pushing hard and trying to find the limit, sooner or later this sort of thing will happen. It's not a problem and everything will be fine with the car for tomorrow. He was unable to make his final run in Q2 because, even though he made it back to the garage, the right rear suspension was damaged. Starting where we are tomorrow with both cars, in what is usually an incident packed race, we will have to be inventive with our strategy and take any opportunity that comes our way."

Williams-Renault

Pastor Maldonado (9th, 1:15.245** Maldonado will be penalized 10 grid positions for his incident with Sergio Perez in FP3): "Everything was quite tight today. We were on the pace and looking good for a top five position but I came across traffic on what would have been my best lap. My second Q3 lap was a bit slower as we lost a bit of grip from the car and tires. It's going to be difficult tomorrow with the penalties, but I will do my best and we'll see."

Bruno Senna (14th, 1:15.709): "I am disappointed with qualifying. The car definitely had a good lap in it but unfortunately I just pushed too hard and the laptime didn't come to me. I'm frustrated with myself but we know we have a strong car so now we just have to see what we can do tomorrow. You never know what can happen in Monaco but it's always easier if you can start further up the grid."

Mark Gillan, Chief Operations Engineer: "It has been a tough and busy day for the team with both cars not finishing qualifying as high as we would have liked. Pastor picked up heavy damage to his car in FP3 and the car crew did a fantastic job to do the repairs in time for the start of the first session of qualifying. Pastor also received a 10-place grid penalty due to an incident with Perez. Despite the ninth (prior to penalty) and 14th qualifying positions for Pastor and Bruno respectively, our analysis shows that a top five qualifying position was achievable for us today."

Caterham-Renault

Heikki Kovalainen (18th, 1:16.538): "That was a good session for me. I've had a good balance all weekend and I went into this session knowing I could push. I'd said to my engineer before quali that I thought we could get into Q2 and we were very close – if it hadn't been for one of the Marussia cars slowing me up in the final sector we'd have been there, but it's not a huge issue, that's what happens in Monaco. Around here I think tomorrow we have the car to be able to fight the cars ahead throughout the race. So far this season we've been able to stay with them for pretty much most of the first two stints, but because it's a shorter lap here we'd like to be able to fight for the whole race. Whether it's dry, wet or in between, it doesn't really matter to me – whatever happens I'm looking forward to it."

Vitaly Petrov (19th, 1:17.404): "That was pretty good – the car's felt good every time we've been out and I think we probably got as much as we could out of it today. We had an issue with KERS this morning so we had to shut that off for quali, so that obviously cost me some time, but we worked around that and pushed as hard as we could in Q1 so it worked out as well as we could have hoped. The red flag obviously disrupted everybody and even though I'd got a lap in before the session started it wasn't a quick one. When I went out again the second set of tires didn't feel quite as good, but all in all it's been a positive weekend so far. Tomorrow will be exciting and I'm looking forward to it. We've already seen that people can make mistakes here so we want to make sure we're there to take advantage of whatever happens on track and fight to the flag."

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: "I am delighted to be back in Monaco and to see the whole team in such good spirits. We have increased the size of the QPR logo on the cars this weekend and I am very pleased to see that the same fighting spirit that helped the football club retain their Premier League status is alive and well in the Caterham garage. When the team sees both drivers giving everything they have got behind the wheel it makes the long hours and the hard work, here on track and back at the factory, all worth it. Despite the fact Heikki was held up by the Marussia we keep edging closer to the long-term goals. We have the right people in the factory and in the race team, the foundations have been laid for us to maintain the progress that has seen us close the gap to the midfield to the point where we are talking about Q2 in Monaco as a realistic proposition and we have the hunger to succeed. I do not want to make any predictions for the race tomorrow, but in our two previous seasons here we have performed extremely well, so that has to be the aim for race day. We have two drivers who know how to mix it in the midfield pack and the engineers and mechanics to use pitstop strategy to the best effect, so I would like to see us have a problem free race and who knows what might happen."

Mark Smith, Technical Director: "This has been a good weekend for us so far, and today's performance is another step in the right direction for us. Heikki put in another very good lap and had it not been for traffic he would probably have been into Q2. On Vitaly's car we had a KERS problem at the end of FP3 so we had to switch that off for qualifying and that clearly cost him some time. Despite that he drove very well and continues to reward the team with maximum effort every time he's in the car. Tomorrow is a chance for us to race the cars ahead for longer than we have been able to so far this season, so both drivers and the whole team are up for the challenge. The weather could play a major factor here and we are prepared for whatever it throws at us – hopefully we see an exciting race and we will aim to get both cars to the checkered flag to capitalize on whatever goes on up ahead."

HRT-Cosworth

Pedro de la Rosa (21st, 1:18.096): "It was the best qualifying session of the year and, without a doubt, the best lap I've ever done in Monaco. The car went well and we decided to do three runs with three new sets of super-softs because we already know that in Monaco the most important thing is to do one good lap. And that's just what happened and I'm delighted about it because getting into the 18.0's here is very good. I'm very satisfied because we got our timing right, the team knew when was the right moment to come out in order to avoid traffic and I accomplished my job, which was to do the best lap possible. I must admit I took some risks, on some laps in the last sector I even almost closed my eyes, but I had to attack and did just that. With one more tenth we would have also overtaken Glock but the truth is that we're very happy with how the day went."

Narain Karthikeyan (23rd, 1:19.310): "We carried out a different strategy to Pedro, and went for two runs when maybe three would have been better. The positive note is that we have one more set of new option tires for tomorrow's race and we have to get the best out of them. Pedro and I have been quite closely matched all weekend and I'm sure we'll have a good pace tomorrow. Although, if it rains it will be a bit of a lottery. Whatever happens, we have to be ready to make the most of any opportunity that may arise."

Toni Cuquerella, Technical Director: "The minor upgrades which we've brought to Monaco have helped us to achieve the best qualifying result in the history of HRT Formula 1 Team by finishing Q1 103.6% off the best time. Besides, we also managed to finish much closer to our main rivals, which is very important. The red flag forced us to alter our strategy; with Pedro we decided to switch to two short runs, whilst with Narain we continued with our original plan and did one run. We got our timing right since we were on the track at the right time and you could consider Pedro's lap to be perfect. It's a shame that Narain was unable to set a similar time but tomorrow he should have a good pace in the race. It will be an open race and I'm sure that we will be competitive and will fight to gain positions."

Marussia-Cosworth

Timo Glock (20th, 1:17.947): "I think another good day for me. FP3 this morning was quite a solid session and we worked our way through the program. As a crew we've worked well together all weekend – my engineers, mechanics and myself – and together we got the car in good shape for qualifying. We made some slight adjustments between the two sessions and I felt happy with the car. After Perez's incident and the red flag, the job was harder as we could only have one shot on the Super Soft tires and with all the traffic. So I'm quite happy with my lap and thanks to my engineers for putting me in the best possible spot for my quick lap. Now I look forward to tomorrow and what I'm sure will be an exciting race. It was nice of DTM's Mike Rockenfeller to pop by before qualifying for a surprise visit. Very good to see him."

Charles Pic (22nd, 1:18.476): "Overall it was not a great qualifying for me. I think our pace here in Monaco is less strong than it was in Barcelona. I also had some traffic in my fast lap, so not a good day. Now we have to focus all we can on tomorrow and what we can do to improve. We know that sometimes in Monaco there are opportunities, so we will have to put ourselves in the best position to be able to take advantage of them."

John Booth, Team Principal: "Unfortunately we find ourselves having experienced mixed fortunes between the two cars in qualifying. The objective going into this race was to improve Timo's balance and continue to see Charles improving his form, but it seems that we've managed to achieve the former, but not helped Charles with the latter. For his car, we need to spend some time understanding the decisions we've made between FP2 and qualifying. As a team we need to get to the point where both drivers perform at their best in qualifying and this will be our goal going forward. For tomorrow they are still placed where we expected and I'm sure both drivers will make good progress and be ready to take advantage of any situations that arise in this typically eventful race."

Results

POS	DRIVER	NATIONALITY	TEAM	TIME
1.	Michael Schumacher*	Germany	Mercedes GP	1:14.301
2.	Mark Webber	Australia	Red Bull-Renault	1:14.381
3.	Nico Rosberg	Germany	Mercedes GP	1:14.448
4.	Lewis Hamilton	Britain	McLaren-Mercedes	1:14.583
5.	Romain Grosjean	France	Lotus-Renault	1:14.639
6.	Fernando Alonso	Spain	Ferrari	1:14.948
7.	Felipe Massa	Brazil	Ferrari	1:15.049
8.	Kimi Raikkonen	Finland	Lotus-Renault	1:15.199
9.	Pastor Maldonado	Venezuela	Williams-Renault	1:15.245
10.	Sebastian Vettel	Germany	Red Bull-Renault	No Time
Q2	DRIVER	NATIONALITY	TEAM	TIME
11.	Nico Hulkenberg	Germany	Force India-Mercedes	1:15.421
12.	Kamui Kobayashi	Japan	Sauber-Ferrari	1:15.508
13.	Jenson Button	Britain	McLaren-Mercedes	1:15.536
14.	Bruno Senna	Brazil	Williams-Renault	1:15.709
15.	Paul di Resta	Britain	Force India-Mercedes	1:15.718
16.	Daniel Ricciardo	Australia	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:15.878
17.	Jean-Eric Vergne	France	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:16.885
Q1	DRIVER	NATIONALITY	TEAM	TIME
18.	Heikki Kovalainen	Finland	Caterham-Renault	1:16.538
19.	Vitaly Petrov	Russia	Caterham-Renault	1:17.404
20.	Timo Glock	Germany	Marussia-Cosworth	1:17.947
21.	Pedro de la Rosa	Spain	HRT-Cosworth	1:18.096
22.	Charles Pic	France	Marussia-Cosworth	1:18.476
23.	Narain Karthikeyan	India	HRT-Cosworth	1:19.310
24.	Sergio Perez	Mexico	Sauber-Ferrari	No Time

*Will start 6th after 5-place grid penalty