Team wrecks Di Resta's qualiposted in F125 | 05 | 2013

BATHGATE'S PAUL DI RESTA was left livid after his Sahara Force India engineers made the wrong tyre decision during qualifying. As a result, the 27-year-old Scot failed to make it out of Q1 and starts tomorrow's race from a disappointing 17th on the grid.

For some inexplicable reason, the team opted not to fit a new set of intermediate Pirelli tyres for Di Resta's final run in the opening qualifying session, and as a result he struggled for grip.

The decision brought an apology from team principal Dr Vijay Mallya who said: "I would like to apologise to Paul because we did not get the tyre strategy right during Q1.

"He was incredibly quick on the intermediate tyres, but we missed the chance to pit him for a new set towards the end of the session."

The team's decision not to fit new tyres to Di Resta's car left him 17th and facing a very tough race tomorrow.

And to rub salt into the wound, team-mate Adria Sutil — who the Scot has outperformed through all free practice sessions — starts eighth.

"There will be a few people in the team kicking themselves," Di Resta, a global ambassador for Whyte & Mackay Whisky, said afterwards. "I'm not going to say too much because I'll probably say something I shouldn't.

"There was a clear thing we should have done, and we didn't. All the other cars did it, we didn't and we got left out to dry.

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"It's probably the most painful experience I think I've ever had in qualifying. And it just makes tomorrow very, very difficult with not a lot of hope going into it that you can actually even do something.

"Qualifying is everything here. Today was the key to make sure we were in the position to do something in the race tomorrow.

"We've failed to do that. We were P7 this morning, and were were very good in free practice on Thursday. We were looking good.

"I think we had the pace to fight, but …. we'll wait and see. There's not much more I can say."

Nico Rosberg claimed his third Formula 1 pole position in a row, and Mercedes' fourth in succession as he fended off team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

The pair start ahead of the Red Bull duo, Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber in third and fourth respectively. Kimi Raikkonen starts fifth in his Lotus, just ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

F1 Monaco Grand Prix — Qualifying:

1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m13.876s;

2. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m13.967s +0.091s;

3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m13.980s +0.104s;

4. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m14.181s +0.305s;

5. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m14.822s +0.946s;

6. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m14.824s +0.948s;

7. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m15.138s +1.262s;

8. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m15.383s +1.507s;

9. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m15.647s +1.771s;

10. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m15.703s +1.827s;

Q2 cut-off time: 1m17.748s

11. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1m18.331s +2.343s;

12. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m18.344s +2.356s;

13. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m18.603s +2.615s;

14. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m19.077s +3.089s;

15. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m19.408s +3.420s;

16. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m21.688s +5.700s;

Q1 cut-off time: 1m26.095s

17. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m26.322s +2.870s;

18. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m26.633s +3.181s;

19. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m26.917s +3.465s;

20. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m27.303s +3.851s;

21. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth;

22. Felipe Massa Ferrari.

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Jim McGill