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2012 Monaco Grand Prix qualifying

Michael Schumacher was fastest in qualifying, but a penalty means Mark Webber will start the Monaco Grand Prix from pole

Michael Schumacher was the fastest man in qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix, but a penalty means Mark Webber will start from pole position.

Schumacher's final lap of the day was just eight-hundredths of a second faster than Webber, but he starts sixth due to a five-place grid penalty following his collision with Bruno Senna in Barcelona. Webber has form at Monaco, having won the race from pole in 2010.

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Mercedes' Nico Rosberg - who was fastest in final practice - will join Webber on the front row of the grid, ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Romain Grosjean.

Fernando Alonso is in fifth, having qualified just a tenth of a second faster than his teammate Felipe Massa. This is the first time the Brazilian driver has qualified within the top 10 this season, and he was fastest of all the drivers in Q2.

Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen will start in seventh place ahead of Sebastian Vettel, who was the only driver not to set a time in the final qualifying session.

Maldonado was ninth fastest but will start the race from 23rd due to a 10-place grid penalty, plus a five-place drop for a gearbox change, following a crash in final practice. The Venezuelan driver - who took his first Formula One victory in the last race in Barcelona - appeared to cause a collision with Sergio Perez, before crashing his Williams just a few moments later and bringing the session to an end. This follows his penalty for driving into Lewis Hamilton in Belgium last year.

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Nico Hulkenberg has then inherited 10th place, and will start ahead of Kamui Kobayashi and Jenson Button. All three failed to make it into the final qualifying session.

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The biggest casualty of the day was Sergio Perez. He crashed into a barrier during the first qualifying session, due to what looked like a steering problem. He lost his left-rear wheel and was forced to park his car on track.

Perez also had a huge crash during qualifying in Monaco last year, which left him out of the race and in hospital with severe concussion.

2012 Monaco Grand Prix grid

PositionDriverTeamTime
1Mark WebberRed Bull Racing-Renault1'14.381
2Nico RosbergMercedes1'14.448
3Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes1'14.583
4Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault1'14.639
5Fernando AlonsoFerrari1'14.948
6Michael Schumacher*Mercedes1'14.301
7Felipe MassaFerrari1'15.049
8Kimi RaikkonenLotus-Renault1'15.199
9Sebastian VettelRed Bull Racing-RenaultNo time
10Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1'15.421
11Kamui KobayashiSauber-Ferrari1'15.508
12Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1'15.536
13Bruno SennaWilliams-Renault1'15.709
14Paul di RestaForce India-Mercedes1'15.718
15Daniel RicciardoSTR-Ferrari1'15.878
16Jean-Eric VergneSTR-Ferrari1'16.885
17Heikki KovalainenCaterham-Renault1'16.538
18Vitaly PetrovCaterham-Renault1'17.404
19Timo GlockMarussia-Cosworth1'17.947
20Pedro de la RosaHRT-Cosworth1'18.096
21Charles PicMarussia-Cosworth1'18.476
22Narain KarthikeyanHRT-Cosworth1'19.310
23Pastor Maldonado**Williams-Renault1'15.245
24Sergio Perez***Sauber-FerrariNo time

107 per cent time: 1'20.697

 

* Five-place grid penalty for causing a collision in Barcelona

** 10-place grid penalty for causing a collision in practice, plus five for a gearbox change

*** Five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change

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