F1 2012 - Mercedes Monaco GP Qualifying Results: Schumacher Claims Pole Position and Rosberg Starts 3rd

The seven time world champion Michael Schumacher claimed his 69th pole position at the Monaco Grand Prix with a 1:14.301, just 0.08 seconds ahead of Red Bull's Mark Webber. However due to the 5 grid spot penalty handed to him after the Spanish grand prix, Michael will start from 6th spot. Fellow Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg took third. Mclaren's Lewis Hamilton starts behind them followed by Romain Grosjean, and Fernando Alonso. Ferrrari's Massa will start seventh breaking into Q3 for the first time this year, followed by Renault's Kimi Raikkonen. Williams driver Pastor Maldonado starts 9th. The current world champion Sebastain Vettel will start in 10th place, who struggled throughout qualifying and opted not to run in Q3 to save a set of tires for the race. To everyone's suprise, Mclaren Mercedes driver Jensen Button failed to make it into the final qualifying session and will start in 13th place.

A delighted Michael said after qualifying:


Nico secured third fastest time in Q3 but will be on the front row of the grid in Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix. Nico:

Ross Brawn

Norbert Haug Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport was also very pleased with Michael:

Qualifying

	Driver	Teams	Time
1	M Schumacher (GER)	Mercedes	1'14.301
2	M Webber (AUS)	Red Bull	1'14.381
3	N Rosberg (GER)	Mercedes	1'14.448
4	LC Hamilton (GBR)	McLaren	1'14.583
5	R Grosjean (FRA)	Lotus	1'14.639
6	F Alonso (ESP)	Ferrari	1'14.948
7	F Massa (BRA)	Ferrari	1'15.049
8	KM Räikkönen (FIN)	Lotus	1'15.199
9	P Maldonado (VEN)	Williams	1'15.245
10	S Vettel (GER)	Red Bull	-
11	N Hülkenberg (GER)	Force India	1'15.421
12	K Kobayashi (JPN)	Sauber	1'15.508
13	J Button (GBR)	McLaren	1'15.536
14	B Senna (BRA)	Williams	1'15.709
15	P di Resta (GBR)	Force India	1'15.718
16	D Ricciardo (AUS)	Toro Rosso	1'15.878
17	JE Vergne (FRA)	Toro Rosso	1'16.885
18	H Kovalainen (FIN)	Caterham	1'16.538
19	V Petrov (RUS)	Caterham	1'17.404
20	T Glock (GER)	Marussia	1'17.947
21	PM de la Rosa (ESP)	HRT	1'18.096
22	C Pic (FRA)	Marussia	1'18.476
23	KRN Karthikeyan (IND)	HRT	1'19.310
24	S Perez (MEX)	Sauber	-