Against all odds the sun had disappeared when it was time for qualifying and it was drizzling! So the conditions seemed quite tricky. Already in the morning in FP3 we saw several crashes to the barriers. Grosjean in his E21 managed to crash his Lotus even twice! The first hit to the barrier lead to a puncture of his left-rear tyre but second time the Frenchman broke his car pretty badly and it was uncertain if the team was able to repair the car by the qualifying. Massa also made a mistake and crashed his Ferrari into a barrier. The Brazilian´s F138 was so badly damaged that he seemed to be out of qualifying.
When Q1 got underway it was still drizzling and the track was damp. Everybody started to the first session with the intermediates on. Q1 was unpredictable and the lap times improved lap by lap when the track got drier and better. The fastest man in Q1 was Williams´s Pastor Maldonado! Who could have predicted that!? Also Maldonado´s team-mate Bottas got through in to Q2, which can be considered an excellent result for the Williams team which have been struggling with their pace. First time this season that both Williams drivers make it in to the second session! Caterham´s Diego van der Garde made an impressive job as well by qualifying 15th, which is the highest grid position ever achieved by a Caterham driver!
During Q2 the track conditions kept improving lap by lap. At the end of the session the track was dry enough for the slicks. The Red Bulls seemed extremely quick whilst Alonso in his Ferrari didn´t seem too competitive in the changing conditions. Kimi at the wheel of his E21 looked much stronger in the second session. Vettel was the fastest man on the track in Q2 and he was followed by Kimi in his Lotus. The Q2 was a glimpse of my dream coming true: oh how much I would have wanted to see these two drivers on the front row! Both Williams drivers were out of Q3. Bottas qualified 14th and Maldonado 16th. Impressive work from the Finn who didn´t have the latest updates in his car! Kimi´s team-mate Grosjean had shown earlier that he has the pace needed but still he was unable to make his way through in to the final session and qualified only 13th.
My sweet illusion of having Sebastian and Kimi on the front row faded away as soon as Q3 got underway. Somehow Mercedes were able to "release their beast" and there was no stopping of the Mercedes duo today, either! On the supersofts Mercedes´s magic was back and Rosberg made it on pole for the third time in a row! His team-mate Hamilton once again completed the first row. Sebastian at the wheel of his Hungry Heidi made it in P3. His most dangerous rivals will start behind the German: his team-mate Webber in P4, Kimi in P5 and Alonso in P6. Knowing that the race pace is still Mercedes´s weakness it really doesn´t seem bad from Sebastian´s point of view!
No other track compares to Monaco. It truly is a legendary street circuit with all the glamour. I just wish I could be sitting on one of the luxury yachts eating strawberries and drinking champagne and keeping my fingers crossed for the super fast Sebastian and for Kimi who is cool as ice. So far Kimi has admitted that he has heard that there´re always good parties at Monaco. If he is successful tomorrow, I´m pretty sure that the Finnish pranksters the Dudesons might put up a party for the Iceman ;) There´s some mystery involved with Kimi´s Monaco helmet. There´s a picture of James Hunt on Kimi´s helmet but the picture was covered in the morning´s practice session because it was said not to be allowed by Ecclestone as according to him it reffered to the film Rush, which tells the story of James Hunt. The picture emerged back on Kimi´s helmet when it was time for qualifying. I wouldn´t be surprised if Kimi had said that he didn´t care what Ecclestone thought! Classic Kimi. Like he had also said that he would throw his phone away if he could!
I´m convinced that Sebastian has every chance to win the race tomorrow. I trust that he will because I want so badly to see him jumping in the pool after the race! And in terms of strategy you can´t ever rule out Lotus. One thing I´m sure about: the Monaco magic won´t let us down!
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