Hamilton pushes Rosberg down for first Monaco pole, and 5th of the season

Monaco, 23 May 2015: Lewis Hamilton claimed his first Monaco pole position and his fifth of the season, beating team-mate Nico Rosberg by over three tenths of a second after the German made a mistake on his final run. Sebastian Vettel was third for Ferrari ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo.

After the initial runs in Q3, Hamilton held an advantage of just over a tenth of a second over Rosberg, but when the pair when out for their final flying laps Rosberg, pushing to recover, locked up into turn one and his chance was gone. Hamilton improved on his first run to log a time of 1:15.098 and claim pole.

Lewis Hamilton said: “My first Monaco pole position; it’s felt a long time coming! Today, bringing the tyres in was tricky. We had to do an out-lap, warm up lap then fast lap. We had to do that for both tyres. It’s an important day for me, looking back through every year at Monaco generally it’s been quite poor. Sometimes I’ve had the car, sometimes I haven’t. I’ve lived here for the last few years so it makes this pole position even more special. There’s still a long way to go, it’s only half the job. It’s going to be mentally and physically challenging tomorrow but I’m looking forward to it. A big thank you to the team; the performance we have in the car is outstanding and they’ve been working very hard. I think the last pole position for me here was in GP2 in 2006 so I hope I can take advantage of it tomorrow in the race.”

 

The Mercedes pair opened Q1 with Hamilton taking P1 with his first lap and then refining that to a lap of 1:16.588 as his soft tyres began to perform. Rosberg quickly eclipsed that benchmark with his second flying lap, finding six hundredths of a second over his team-mate to take top spot.

Behind them Sebastian Vettel put in a lap of 1:17.502 to claim P3, almost a full second behind Rosberg. Pastor Maldonado was fourth for Lotus ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Daniil Kvyat and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.

Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg meanwhile hit trouble 10 minutes in when he lost control going into Mirabeau and clipped the wall with the rear of his car. He headed back to the pits in P10. There was no real damage, however, and he was soon back out on track.

With three minutes left Max Verstappen had climbed to P3 with a lap of 1:16.750, ahead of Kvyat, Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz, Force India’s Sergio Perez and McLaren’s Jenson Button, while Vettel remained in P8.

In the drop zone with a minute left on the clock were Sauber’s Felipe Nasr, Williams’ Valtteri Bottas, Sauber’s Marcus Ericcson and the Manors of Roberto Merhi and Will Stevens.

And it was Bottas who was the session’s major casualty. On his final lap the Finn was six tenths down on the best first sector time and a second off the pace in S2. As the chequered flag came out he abandoned his lap and headed to the pit lane to exit the session in P17. Nasr also failed to improve in P16, though Stevens managed to leapfrog team-mate Merhi to claim P19 behind Ericsson.

At the top Rosberg held P1 ahead of Hamilton, while Verstappen remained in P3 ahead of Kvyat, Sainz, Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, Perez, Button, Vettel and Hulkenberg. Only the Mercedes and Ferrari drivers managed to get through to Q2 on the soft tyre alone.

The first casualty of Q2 was McLaren’s Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard ground to a halt at Sainte Devote but he was swiftly brought through a gap in the barriers and the session continued uninterrupted.

Vettel set the early pace with a lap of 1:16.224 but with eight minutes left he was usurped by Rosberg who beat his time by more than seven tenths of second. Hamilton slotted into P3 with an identical time to Vettel, while Raikkonen took fourth place ahead of Sainz and Verstappen.

By the time the final flying laps were starting the drop zone featured Ricciardo in P11, backed up by Button, Williams’ Felipe Massa and Hulkenberg. Alonso would occupy P15.

Ricciardo began his final lap five hundredths of a second adriftt of the P10 time of 1:17.007 set by Grosjean but the Australian found space on the crowded track and comfortably bypassed that mark. He improved by three tenths to make it through to Q3 in seventh place, dumping Grosjean out of the session.

Behind the Lotus driver, Button was eliminated in P12, with the Briton being told that yellow flags that had come out when Rosberg used the escape road at Sainte Devote had cost him the time he need. The Briton responded that the result was “painful” and that otherwise passage to Q3 would have been “easy”. Hulkenberg, meanwhile, jumped ahead of Massa to claim P13.

At the top of the order Rosberg still held P1 with his best lap of 1:15.471. Hamilton finished just under four tenths behind in P2, with Vettel third just over two tenths further back. Raikkonen was fourth ahead of Kvyat, Verstappen, Ricciardo, Sainz, Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado and Perez, who made it into Q3 for the first time this season.

As teams prepared for the top-10 shootout, spots of rain began to fall and the Mercedes drivers were quickly out of the pit lane, with Hamilton ahead, to begin the bid for pole.

Hamilton’s first timed lap was a 1:20.611, with Rosberg crossing the line right behind in 1:21.058. They were both passed by Perez whose first lap yielded a time of 1:17.912 and then by Raikkonen.

Hamilton, though, was only winding up and next time round he logged a time of 1:15.304, to which Rosberg had no response. The German crossing the line just under 1400ths of a second adrift of his team-mate, with Vettel taking third, four tenths behind Rosberg. Ricciardo was fourth after the first runs with Kvyat fifth ahead of Perez, Verstappen, Sainz, Raikkonen, who brushed the wall at Portier, and Maldonado.

And Rosberg again failed to find a reponse in the final run. The German had a big lock-up into turn one and his lap was over. He aborted his run and headed for the pit lane as Hamilton improved to a pole-securing lap of 1:15.098.

Vettel was third, the Ferrari driver also locking up at turn one, while Ricciardo held fourth with a lap of 1:16.041. Raikkonen finished fifth ahead of Perez, who with no fresh sets of option tyres left opted to sit out the final run. Sainz took an excellent eighth position, with Maldonado ninth ahead of Verstappen.

2015 Monaco Grand Prix – Qualifying
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:15.098 
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:15.440 0.342
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:15.849 0.751
4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/Renault 1:16.041 0.943
5 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull/Renault 1:16.182 1.084
6 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:16.427 1.329
7 Sergio Perez Force India/Mercedes 1:16.808 1.710
8 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso/Renault 1:16.931 1.833
9 Pastor Maldonado Lotus/Mercedes 1:16.946 1.848
10 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso/Renault 1:16.957 1.859
11 Jenson Button McLaren/Honda 1:17.093 1.995
12 Nico Hulkenberg Force India/Mercedes 1:17.193 2.095
13 Felipe Massa Williams/Mercedes 1:17.278 2.180
14 Fernando Alonso McLaren/Honda 1:26.632 11.534
15 Felipe Nasr Sauber/Ferrari 1:18.101 3.003
16 Romain Grosjean * Lotus/Mercedes 1:17.007 1.909
17 Valtteri Bottas Williams/Mercedes 1:18.434 3.336
18 Marcus Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari 1:18.513 3.415
19 Will Stevens Marussia/Ferrari 1:20.655 5.557
20 Roberto Merhi Marussia/Ferrari 1:20.904 5.806

eom/FIA press release