World champion Fernando Alonso emerged with pole position after Saturday’s qualifying session in Monaco — his first for McLaren.
The Woking based team dominated in the Principality, with the Spaniard’s rookie teammate Lewis Hamilton grabbing second spot, ahead of back-to-back race winner Felipe Massa, in the only Ferrari to graduate to the top-ten shootout.
Kimi Raikkonen struck trouble earlier when he clouted the barriers at the Swimming Pool, then creating a familiar scene by ‘parking’ – albeit not deliberately – in the Rascasse corner, as his predecessor Michael Schumacher did one year ago.
Ferrari mechanics tried desperately to repair the Finn’s damaged front wheel, but he will start from a lowly fifteenth on the grid.
Both Red Bulls made the top-ten cut, but stewards barred David Coulthard from participating in the ‘Q3’ runout after he blocked the flying Heikki Kovalainen’s Renault in the final corner while on an out-lap.
The situation promoted Honda’s Jenson Button to tenth place, while teammate Rubens Barrichello qualified for ‘Q3’ on merit with the usually uncompetitive RA107 car.
Spyker’s Christijan Albers failed to set a single qualifying lap on Saturday with a hydraulics problem, and will start from dead last.
Monaco GP, qualification
1 F. Alonso McLaren 1:15.726
2 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:15.905
3 F. Massa Ferrari 1:15.967
4 G. Fisichella Renault 1:16.285
5 N. Rosberg Williams 1:16.439
6 M. Webber Red Bull 1:16.784
7 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:16.832
8 R. Kubica BMW 1:16.955
9 R. Barrichello Honda 1:17.498
10 J. Button Honda 1:17.939
11 A. Wurz Williams 1:16.662
12 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:16.703
13 J. Trulli Toyota 1:16.988
14 H. Kovalainen Renault 1:17.125
15 K. Räikkönen Ferrari no time
16 D. Coulthard Red Bull penalty
17 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:18.250
18 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:18.390
19 A. Sutil Spyker F1 1:18.418
20 R. Schumacher Toyota 1:18.539
21 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:18.554
22 C. Albers Spyker F1 no time
