Formula 1: Michael Schumacher Reigns on Pole in Monaco '12 Qualifying

German veteran takes pole at the pinnacle of motorsport, Monaco.

Were into the 2nd race of the European section of the F1 Calendar and at the pinnacle of motorsport, Monaco. Many a F1 driver has dreamed of the perfect lap, the perfect race and receiving the trophy from the Prince of Monaco. We start with some news of Pastor Maldonado taking a 10 place grid penalty for scything into Sergio Perez during practice 3, this is along with Michael Schumacher taking a 5 place grid penalty for hitting Bruno Senna in Spain. Q1 is underway and a lot of people having major trouble with traffic. Maldonado quickly sets a fast lap but a lot of drivers on the track leads to a lot of people being blocked. There is a few potential points going up to the stewards on people blocking quick laps, right up until Sergio Perez smacks the barriers after setting the fastest middle sector. At least this year he isn't out of the race but he'll be at the back of the pack. Session red flagged at the moment with 15 mins remaining. Back under way and a few more laps being set now. Still nowhere near the fastest times of practice. Rosberg takes over from his team-mate with the first 1:15 of the session. All of the usual suspects up at the top, all set on soft tyres. But they might not feel too comfortable once a few teams go out on the super soft and go quicker. Felipe Massa has his mojo back and is zipping round Monaco and quicker than his team-mate. Raikkonen is still at the bottom and needs to set a lap soon. Grosjean is out setting fastest sectors following his excellent practice sessions. And now some of the big boys are feeling the pressure, Hulkenberg has gone fastest on the Super Softs so they feel the need to head out. Raikkonen is in the bottom after Kovaleinen boots him down. Vettel is also on super softs as he's only just above Heikki. Raikkonen has no worries, he's just thrown it into 5th. Vettel does the same and puts himself into 5th. Kovaleinen finishes his lap but can't get back up to 17th. Out in Q1; 18th Kovaleinen (Caterham) 19th Petrov (Caterham) 20th Glock (Marussia) 21st De La Rosa (HRT) 22nd Pic (Marussia) 23rd Karthikeyan (HRT) 24th Perez (Sauber) (rt'd) Senna out straight away in Q2, can he take over the mantle now that Maldonado has a 10 place penalty? Apart from Di Resta and Grosjean everyone is out on the super softs now. Now, can people put laps in without traffic? Rosberg is flying at the minute and bangs in a 1:15 dead. Very quick from him and his team-mate accepts that by being 6 tenths slow. Webber hits a 1:15 dead too, just behind Rosberg. Massa continues his form going 4th behind Rosberg, Webber and Hamilton. Vergne is now slowly driving around after his car swallowed his front wing. Quite a few cars were held up by him. Button is on the bubble, Raikkonen and Grosjean in 11th and 12th respectively. Button has just put another lap in to get him into 7th. Vettel is struggling badly and can only get 9th. His car is 'jumping like a rabbit', his quote, not mine! Quick pit for him new tyres and by the sounds of that, less front wing. Grosjean gets super softs now and heads out to join Raikkonen. Everyone has the obligatory quick pit before they attempt a few more laps and all head back out now. Less than a second between 1st and 11th. Vergne is out of the session so only 6 others to be dropped. Grosjean can only just get his car into 10th and Raikkonen struggles to 12th. Obviously there is some truth in the rumour that they struggle on Super Soft. Massa sets the first 1:14 of Qualifying, looking like a new man at this track. Vettel bangs one in and drops Button into the drop zone, he finishes his lap and is still in 11th! Maldonado pops it into 3rd as Grosjean hammers the last section of the track and gets into 8th. Rakkonen and Button are both still out, but they are on a fast lap still. Raikkonen throws it into 10th but will someone behind take him? No! Button is out and will start 13th, poor effort from the McLaren driver after Hamilton finished 4th. Out in Q2; 11th Hulkenberg (Force India) 12th Kobayashi (Sauber) 13th Button (McLaren) 14th Senna (Williams) 15th Di Resta (Force India) 16th Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) 17th Vergne (Toro Rosso) Q3 is under way, who's dream lap will come true? Rosberg and Hamilton out on new super soft tyres. There shouldn't be too much traffic now with only 10 cars in this session. Rosberg has locked up on a few corners and has slowed and will make another attempt. Hamilton is still on a flyer though. But a 1:15:7 is nothing great. Grosjean slams down a 1:14:6 for starters followed by Rosberg who slightly beats it to take pole. Vettel is out on the soft tyre? Setting sectors just to get above people who don't lap and keeping tyres for the race? Odd choice from the reigning world champion. Massa is out and just starting his fast lap. But it's still quite far off the pace along with Raikkonen. 6th for Raikkonen and 8th for Massa. Maldonado is out setting a lap, he will be damaged by a penalty though. Alonso sets his lap for 5th, as Hamilton sets the fastest first sector. Webber is on a quick lap too and he takes pole, Hamilton is behind him though but he can't beat it! So far it's Webber, Rosberg, Hamilton. Grosjean and Schumacher are flying. Massa sets 6th. Schumi takes it!!! He has a grid penalty but as he promised before the race he'll take pole, start from 6th but still win. We'll see about the last bit but he's completed his first promise. Q3 Results; 1st Schumacher (Mercedes) 2nd Webber (Red Bull) 3rd Rosberg (Mercedes) 4th Hamilton (McLaren) 5th Grosjean (Lotus) 6th Alonso (Ferrari) 7th Massa (Ferrari) 8th Raikkonen (Lotus) 9th Maldonado (Williams) 10th Vettel (Red Bull)
Contributor
Contributor

F1 mad golfer. Love McLaren F1 but my favourite driver is Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen. Geordie that supports Arsenal. Work down South, from up North. Confused yet? No-one can ever accuse me of being boring!