Formula 1 - Monaco Grand Prix 2014 - Qualifying

The Silver Arrows make up the front row of the grid for Sunday's race. Nico Rosberg had braked on the last lap and had to choose the Mirabeau emergency exit, otherwise there would have been a crash. Thereupon there was the yellow flag and Lewis Hamilton could no longer improve and is now behind Rosberg in second place on the grid .

by Bruno Fleckenstein

Q1 was opened by the Mercedes drivers. Nico Rosberg's second scored lap time was 1:17.938 minutes. Hamilton was 0.813 minutes behind. Danill Kvyat on Toro Rosso came out of the tunnel too impetuously. The car broke free, a spin followed and the nose of the Torro Rosso went to pieces. Nevertheless, he qualified for Q2 in 16th place. The Mirabeau, the fifth turn after the start, was a jinx today. Marcus Ericsson wanted to pass Felipe Massa on the inside in his green Caterham car. Massa made room for him, but the Swede miscalculated, could no longer control the car and drove straight into the corner barrier, hitting the Williams driver in the process. Felipe Massa clapped his hands demonstratively, because as if he seemed to suspect it, he could not drive Q2, although he classified for it. The surprising winner of Q1 was Eric Vergne with a time of 1:17.551 minutes.

[EasyGallery id='f1gpmonaco2014qualifying']
(Click on the picture gallery!)

Q2 was again tackled first by the Silver Arrows. This time Hamilton managed to set the fastest lap and with 1:16.354 he was 11 hundredths faster than his teammate and winner of Q2. Hulkenberg, Button, Bottas, Maldonado, Massa and Grosjean were eliminated.

Although Nico Rosberg had said he was having problems getting the Super Soft tires up to temperature, it was he who set the fastest time in Q3 with 1:15.989, the eventual winning time. With five minutes remaining, the Ferraris pitted followed by Mercedes and Red Bull. Raikkonen was the first back on track, but as expected he was unable to threaten Rosberg's time. With 20 seconds to go, Nico rosberg tried to get the best out of his car, but ended up in an emergency exit at Mirabeau. The yellow flag was then waved and the positions remained unchanged.

The drivers' ranking after qualifying:
1st Nico Rosberg, Mercedes 1:15.989
2nd Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes + 0.059 sec.
3rd Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull + 0.359 sec.
4th Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull + o.558 sec
5th Fernando Alonso, Ferrari + 0.697 sec.
6th Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari + 1,400 sec.
7th Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso + 1.551 sec.
8th Kevin Magnusson, Mclaren + 1.556 sec.
9th Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso + 2.101 sec.
10th Sergio Perez, Force India + 2.338 sec.