MONACO — Mark Webber was fastest in qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix on Saturday, giving Red Bull its sixth straight start from the pole position this Formula One season.
The Australian turned a lap in 1 minute, 13.826 seconds around the winding street circuit to claim his fourth career pole a week after his wire-to-wire victory in the Spanish GP.
Robert Kubica of Renault will start second ahead of Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull and Felipe Massa of Ferrari goes from fourth, followed by Lewis Hamilton of McLaren.
Fernando Alonso will start from pit lane after missing qualifying because his Ferrari was damaged when he crashed into a barrier during the final practice session earlier Saturday.
Webber beat Kubica by nearly three-tenths of a second to set a course record for pole.
“It’s a vicious venue in terms of punishment for mistakes,” Webber said. “It felt like I found another gear in terms of confidence in the car today, I knew how important it was to nail a good lap because of the competition.”
Overall F1 leader and defending champion Jenson Button will start eighth behind Michael Schumacher, who fell a spot back of Nico Rosberg after his Mercedes teammate inadvertently blocked him.
“You know what Monaco is like — so often it happens,” said Schumacher, a five-time winner here.
Webber is looking to become the second Australian after Jack Brabham to win at the iconic circuit. With teams struggling to match Red Bull’s pace and on a narrow circuit offering few overtaking chances, Webber is set up for a fourth career victory.
“I wouldn’t be here without Jack Brabham,” Webber said. “It would be the biggest highlight of my career if I could join him tomorrow, but … I’m not under any illusion that it’s going to be handed to me.”
Kubica was on the leaders’ pace in each of the three practice sessions and the Pole dominated the final qualifying session, along with Webber.
“For sure, a good effort for us, for the team,” Kubica said. “I think we couldn’t do better.”
Alonso, who set the previous pole record on his way to victory four years ago, watched qualifying from Ferrari’s garage.
The Spaniard slid into the wall at the Massenet corner 21 minutes into the final free practice session, damaging his car’s chassis and front suspension, and losing his front right tire.
“I locked the front left tire and I went straight into the wall,” said Alonso, a two-time Monaco winner. “It was a little bit also (an) unlucky situation. If I crash 100 times, 99 (times) I will never break the chassis. But this time it happens, so (there’s) nothing you can do.”
Alonso will start behind the six cars from the new teams after Lotus, Virgin and HRT all failed to get past the first qualifying round for the sixth straight race weekend.
Despite 23 cars being on track for that first session, there were no traffic incidents. Vitaly Petrov swerved into the first corner padding and will start 14th.
Vettel believes his best chance of winning lies with one of the top two going out early. Only five pole sitters have gone on to win in the past 10 races.
“If they don’t crash into the first corner, there won’t be a lot of clean air,” the German said. “But if you think you are unbeatable you are also a fool.”
Button leads the overall standings with 70 points. Alonso has 67, Vettel 60 and Webber 53. Hamilton and Massa each have 49, while Kubica has 44.
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