F1 Quali Monaco

Welcome to Monaco as the F1 circus arrives bringing along with it all the glitz at what is the jewel in the F1 crown. Without doubt this will be the most difficult quali of the season with 24 cars hurtling around this iconic street circuit. The feeling is the slower cars will cause some major scalps by blocking the quicker cars during quali 1.

It was wonderful seeing in the build up that Sir Stirling is getting better after his frightening fall down his own lift shaft breaking both his feet.

The breaking news is that Fernando will not be taking part in quali after a crash during warm up this morning. He hit the armco very hard which resulted in cracking the chassis and they are having to rebuild a new car in the pits with a new chassis and he will then start from the pit lane.

With reference to the problems anticipated by the slower cars Eddie Jordan made comment that it was a team issue. The new teams have not yet brought themselves forward and the gap is quite large and hence the problem. The drivers of the slower cars made it quite clear they will not block the quicker cars but they have their quali to run and hence if on a quick lap won't move over!

It was nice to see DC back from DTM to make up the usual commentary team and his run around Silverstone in the 2 seater didn't do Jake any good as he found it an amazing experience, albeit very scary.

It was interesting listening to comments about the new regime of having a previous drivers input into the steward's role during grand prix weekends. Damon and Johnny [Herbert] commented it is a vital role and the stewards found his input invaluable. Jean Todt made his appearance for the quali and it is nice to see him back in the pit lane.

So the unique challenge of quali at Monaco started at 1300 UK time with anticipation of a great 60 minutes to come. So it's over to Martin Brundle and Jonathan Ledgard for the session with only 23 cars, air temperature of 19, track temperature of 28 and it is at least sunny.

The first car out was Karun logging a 1.23.478, some seven seconds off the pace, as the excitement builds winding through the streets of Monaco. Lewis slotted into P1 first of the big hitters but soon lost that to Felipe. Then the first to break the 1.15 barrier was Sebastian but the times are really irrelevant at this point albeit then came the 1.14's.

Michael seems to be happier with his car and is now matching Nico in his Mercedes. As Fernando is not running there will only be 6 cars dropping out in Q1 and those appear to be the usual cars half way through Q1.

All predictions were correct as we lost Heikki, Jarno, Timo, Lucas, Bruno and Karun and the first anticipated problem for the quicker teams was really a non event. The only real problem we saw on circuit was for Robert coming up to a traffic jam coming out of the tunnel. Sadly we lost both Lotus's in Q1 and Heikki had a couple of spins which didn't do his laps any good.

Most of the cars were out straight away in Q2 with Mark leading the field as they all fight to be in the top ten as we lose another seven cars into Q3. Robert held P1 for quite a while with a 1.14.6 and as Martin commented that is quite handy. Times are so tight covering the top teams confirm there is no room for error around the principality.

Neither of the Mclarens were topping the timing screens with only six minutes to go with Jenson struggling to keep his place in the top ten. Nico looks good at the top of the screen with both Red Bulls in second and third and they sat in the pits with three minutes to go.

Vitaly was the first during quali to stuff it into the barrier which then caused problems for the others going through the Yellow flag zone at the end of the start finish straight. Jenson lifted his self to P8 to make it into Q3 with Lewis in P6.

No real unexpected scalps in Q2 as we lost Nico (H), Adrian, Sebastian (B), Vitaly, Pedro, Kamui and Jaime. Nico topped the timing screens in Q2 and then sat it out in the pits ready for Q3.

The shoot out for pole started with only ten minutes to go and Eddie Jordan suggests Robert would be a romantic pole sitter. Rubens once again is in the top ten but it is so very close amongst the ten running in Q3.

The first to post a time was Vitantonio in his Force India followed by Robert slotting into P1 with a great 1.14.2 which is flying around here and the fastest of the weekend so far. Lewis is a full second behind with a 1.15.3 but then he slotted into P2 but Jenson didn't seem happy. Mark then slotted in an incredible 1.14.1 with Robert, Lewis and Felipe trying everything they can to match it.

So Eddie wasn't far wrong and Robert was only just beaten by Mark, the only one in the 1.13's. So a very interesting grid with Mark in P1, followed by Robert, Sebastian, Felipe, Lewis, Nico, Michael, Jenson, Rubens and in tenth Vitantonio.

So six poles out of six starts is impressive by Red Bull and congratulations to Mark. We have an interesting race in prospect with some great drivers at the front and Fernando coming from the back as Michael had to some years ago after his "stop" in La Rascass.

Well done to all the teams for keeping out of trouble and the session went really without any problems apart from Vitaly who did it himself. Tomorrow will be a great affair and we all hope they can have a good race without serious incidents around this most iconic street circuit.