Hamilton bags first Monaco F1 poleposted in F123 | 05 | 2015
LEWIS HAMILTON BAGGED his first Monaco Grand Prix pole position when he delivered a near-perfect lap in the final seconds of qualifying today.
The current world champion clocked a best time of 1min 15.098secs to finish 0.342s ahead of Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg, who Hamilton (pictured) leads by 20 points in this year's title race.
And after sealing his first Monaco GP pole in nine attempts — and the 43rd of his career — the double world champ was naturally delighted.
"It 's been a long time," he admitted. " It was 2006 in GP2 the last time I was on pole here. This is a very special day, so a big thanks to the team because the performance we have in the car is outstanding.
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"Obviously I now hope we can have a result tomorrow, but I've not even done half the job yet. I'm sitting here now thinking about previous situations here that have got away and not been good enough
"I don't see this as a milestone, but it's definitely an important day for me. Every year it's been quite poor. Sometimes I've not had the car, things have got in the way, sometimes I've had the car, but not executed it.
"So I can't tell you how happy I am, in particular as that was not an easy session. I didn't have any rhythm until the last two laps, so coming across the line I was really, really happy."
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel lines up third after clocking 1:15.849s, ahead of Red Bull duo Daniel Ricciardo and Danni Kyvat, with Kimi Raikkonen sixth in the second Ferrari.
F1 Monaco Grand Prix — Qualifying:
1. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 15.098s
2. Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 15.440s
3. Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 15.849s
4. Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull-Renault 1m 16.041s
5. Daniil Kvyat RUS Red Bull-Renault 1m 16.182s
6. Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 16.427s
7. Sergio Perez MEX Force India-Mercedes 1m 16.808s
8. Carlos Sainz Jr ESP Toro Rosso-Renault 1m 16.931s**
9. Pastor Maldonado VEN Lotus-Mercedes 1m 16.946s
10. Max Verstappen NED Toro Rosso-Renault 1m 16.957s
*11. Romain Grosjean FRA Lotus-Mercedes 1m 17.007s*
12. Jenson Button GBR McLaren-Honda 1m 17.093s
13. Nico Hulkenberg GER Force India-Mercedes 1m 17.193s
14. Felipe Massa BRZ Williams-Mercedes 1m 17.278s
15. Fernando Alonso ESP McLaren-Honda 1m 26.632s
16. Felipe Nasr BRZ Sauber-Ferrari 1m 18.101s
17. Valtteri Bottas FIN Williams-Mercedes 1m 18.434s
18. Marcus Ericsson SWE Sauber-Ferrari 1m 18.513s
19. Will Stevens GBR Manor Marussia-Ferrari 1m 20.655s
20. Roberto Merhi ESP Manor Marussia-Ferrari 1m 20.904s
* Grosjean has a five-place penalty
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Jim McGill