Reuters
Monaco, May 28: Australian Daniel Ricciardo seized the first pole position of his Formula One (F1) career at the Monaco Grand Prix here Saturday with World Championship leader Nico Rosberg joining him on the front row for Mercedes.
The pole, in a time of one minute 13.622 seconds, was former champions Red Bull’s first since the Brazil Grand Prix in November 2013.
Triple world champion Lewis Hamilton qualified in third place, a remarkable recovery after he suffered a fuel pressure problem at the start of the final session and had to be pushed back along the
pitlane.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, the last driver before Ricciardo to start a race on pole for Red Bull, will join the Briton on the second row for a race where overtaking is extremely
difficult.
Meanwhile Force India (FI) bounced back to form with their drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez setting the fifth and eighth fastest time in qualifying.
Hulkenberg produced a fine lap of 1:14.726s, just enough to beat the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen. Perez came up with a 1:14.902s to finish ahead of Daniil Kvyat and Fernando Alonso, driving a Toro Rosso and McLaren respectively.
The qualifying effort was FI’s best of the season so far. The team has endured a tough start to the season with 14 points from five races, putting them seventh in the team standings.