Raikkonen finally ends his pole position drought in Monaco Grand Prix

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Raikkonen finally ends his pole position drought in Monaco Grand Prix
Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen in action during the third free practice session.

Monaco - Ferrari driver clinched his first pole after 128 races, with his last one being at the Magny Cours, France in 2008

By Niharika Ghorpade

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Published: Sat 27 May 2017, 11:30 PM

Last updated: Sun 28 May 2017, 1:39 AM

 
Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen clinched pole position in the streets of Monte Carlo, his first pole after 128 races, with his last one being at the Magny Cours, France in 2008. The Finn's fastest lap was 1 minute 12. 178 seconds and was followed by his team-mate Sebastian Vettel who clocked the second fastest time. For the scarlet outfit, it is their second front-row lockout this season, and they were followed by Mercedes driver Valterri Bottas who post the third fastest time.
For Bottas' team-mate Lewis Hamilton, the weekend went all wrong since the second free practice session on Thursday. The momentum carried into the free practice session before qualifying, where the Briton was unable to optimise the tyre temperatures into the required window, to get them working.
The tyre temperatures being down lead to lack of grip, that ruined the Britons first qualifying session. In the second session he had two attempts to get a quick lap, however on his final attempt, the car ahead of him was Stoffel Vandoorne's who crashed into the wall and brought out the yellow flags, further compromising the Briton's run and eliminating him out of the session.
As a result of the botched qualifying, the Briton will start the race fourteenth on the grid, with his only hope being the penalties of Jenson Button and Stoffel Vandoorne's aiding him to start further up the grid. However, Mercedes will have to find a way to help him work his tyres through the race, which has been one of their challenges all weekend.
Qualifying fourth on the grid, was Max Verstappen followed by team-mate Daniel Ricciardo in fifth place. Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz qualified sixth followed by Force India's Sergio Perez in seventh place. Haas' Romain Grosjean post the eight fastest time followed by Button who qualified in ninth. However the returning 2009 World Champion, has a 15 place grid penalty for the race tomorrow and his team-mate Vandoorne has a three place grid penalty. For the Belgian, there could be more penalties in store if the team has to change more parts to repair the damages on that McLaren.
The Belgian's accident was unfortunate, as he had post an impressive sixth fastest time in the second session of qualifying. On the brighter side, his and Jenson's performance in qualifying do highlight improvements in the performance of the McLaren.
In the first session of qualifying the drivers to be eliminated were Marcus Ericsson, Jolyon Palmer, Esteban Ocon, Lance Stroll and Pascal Wehrlein. Esteban's performance was compromised due to his crash in FP3, earlier in the day, which gave his team less than two hours to repair the damage in time for qualifying. Ericsson too crashed out towards the end of the qualifying session.
In Q2 the big surprise in elimination zone was Hamilton, and the rest were Kevin Magnussen, Daniil Kyvat, Nico Hulkenberg and Felipe Massa. While the Renaults struggled for grip and balance, for the Williams this circuit has always been a challenge since the dawn of the V6 era.
The current penalties have put Nico Hulkenberg in P10, however the German said they haven't been able to figure out why they have been struggling here, something they had not expected. The top 9 drivers on the grid start the race on the ultrasoft tyres while Nico Hulkenberg or P10 onwards will start on the supersoft tyre.
When it comes to Lewis and Mercedes' tyre woes, speaking to the press post the session,  neither Toto or he were able to explain why it he has been struggling. But if one had to go into the past years when Lewis was with McLaren, the difference between and him was always due to the driving styles. Sebastian and Lewis can have driving styles that are slightly harsh on the tyres, unlike the pole-sitter Kimi who has always managed having the least degradation even on warmer circuits like Bahrain and Abu Dhabi. In Lewis' case being harsh on the tyres never helps bringing the tyre temperatures to the optimum level, as the window is very narrow. Sometimes the front tyres can be right while at times the rears can slip out of the window. Ideally in Monaco, for the whole grid it takes at least two laps to get the tyres into the optimum temperature window. Contrasting to Lewis Valtteri tends to be smoother when it comes to managing his tyres as seen in Sochi.
For the Maranello squad, the front-row lockout comes as a delight and with title contender Lewis struggling at the back of the grid, a win here would mean a first for them since Michael Schumacher's in 2001. With Valtteri being the lone Mercedes driver in the pack at the front, his job just got tougher as he will not only have to catch up to the Ferraris but also keep the two strong Red Bulls at bay. The Red Bull drivers cannot be discounted, given their strong form this weekend, and with opportunist Max in the same row as the Mercedes driver.
With the new generation of F1 cars overtaking will be problematic at this tight circuit and position and strategy will play key. Whether Kimi converts his pole to a win, remains to be seen as the Finn has had a pragmatic approach about securing pole and said it not necessarily guarantees a win. But if he does win here it will be his first win since Australia in 2013, and a win in Monaco since 2005 with McLaren.
Where the Red Bulls end up in the mix, will be the other interesting scenario, as at this circuit ideally it should be a glitch free run for them. However, in the last five races, a constant problem with the Milton Keynes car has been brake by wire issues compromising their performance, a flaw in the chassis of the car that has been highlighted. Nevertheless with a dry and sunny forecast for the race tomorrow, it will be a race worth looking forward to along with interesting predictions for the result.


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