F1 News
Date: 26/May/2012
Past Monaco master Michael Schumacher gave a timely reminder of his talents by setting the fastest time during qualifying for the 2012 event, but it will be Mark Webber that starts Sunday’s F1 grand prix from pole position.
Schumacher is carrying a five-place grid penalty imposed for colliding with Bruno Senna at the previous Spanish round, denying the Mercedes driver what would have been his first pole start since returning to F1 in 2010.
But there were no signs of regret from the seven time world champion.
Instead Schumacher cut a defiant figure, proud to have proven he still has the speed to beat the very best in Formula One and determined to fight for victory.
“It’s the first pole of the second part of my career,” said Schumacher, whose Q3 lap put him 0.14sec ahead of Webber. “I’m delighted to finally get it together and be able to prove [I can still do it].
“Monaco to all of us is the track of the year and to manage pole here after what I have gone through in the past two-and-a-half years is just fabulous.”
The claustrophobic Monaco streets are notoriously hard to pass on, making the grid penalty especially harsh, but the 43-year-old remains convinced he has a real chance of his first F1 win since 2006.
“I said earlier in the weekend, my [plan] is pole, start the race in sixth and then win it,” he declared. “That’s what I’m here for and what I’m going to aim for.
“I’ve won from I don’t know what positions in the past. I will do as good as I can tomorrow. Overtaking is tough but we have DRS and KERS so you might as well try - and be sure I will,” he warned.
Schumacher - yet to claim a podium since his F1 return - is second on the all-time Monaco win list with five victories around the Principality, just one less than the late Aryton Senna.
Schumacher’s most recent Monaco win was in 2001, for Ferrari.
Webber’s inherited pole was the first of the season for the Red Bull driver, but the Australian made clear the day belonged to Schumacher.
“It’s Michael’s day,” said the 2010 Monaco winner. “Michael did a good lap, fair play to him - but it’s nice for me to move up a position.”
Webber will be seeking his first rostrum of the season on Sunday.
With Schumacher demoted to sixth, team-mate and Shanghai winner Nico Rosberg will join Webber on Sunday’s front row. “I’m very pleased, obviously, to start on the front row in Monaco,” said Rosberg. “That is a great place to start to have a good race.”
Row two will be formed by McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Lotus rookie Romain Grosjean, with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso starting alongside Schumacher on row three.
Alonso is currently tied at the top of the standings with Red Bull’s reigning double champion and defending Monaco winner Sebastian Vettel, who will start ninth on the grid.
Five different drivers have won during the opening five rounds of this season - Jenson Button, Alonso, Rosberg, Vettel and Pastor Maldonado.
Button will start just twelfth while Maldonado faces an even greater struggle after being penalised ten places due to contact with Sauber’s Sergio Perez in final practice.
The Williams driver will start 19th with Perez 24th and last after an accident early in qualifying.
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