Monaco Grand Prix

[Lineker]

World champion Fernando Alonso took his first pole position as a McLaren driver in Monaco on Saturday after coming out top of a monumental battle with his rookie team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

The 22-year-old British sensation pushed all the limits and challenged some more as he tried, and valiantly failed, to take the top spot on only his fifth time of asking.

But a wry smile and cheeky smirk in the press conference belied Lewis' intentions for the race as the inquisitive will inevitably wonder just how much fuel he was carrying compared to Alonso.

An action-packed session peppered with sparkling performances saw Felipe Massa unexpectedly lead the Ferrari challenge with third on the grid after Kimi Raikkonen clipped a corner edge and broke his steering in Q2.

Giancarlo Fisichella was fourth, ahead of an impressive Nico Rosberg and Red Bull's Mark Webber.

Following Adrian Sutil's startling performance for Spyker in the wet free practice session earlier on Saturday, anticipation of precipitation dominated the first 15-minute knock-out session.

And with the track drying but still greasy, the streets of the principality became busy with cars as the times inevitably tumbled through Q1.

It seemed that if drivers weren't being blocked, they were setting personal bests at every attempt, and that was certainly true of the two McLaren drivers who duked it lap for lap brilliantly.

It was Hamilton that eventually delivered the punch, like a street-fighter, as he ragged the car through Casino Square displaying enough on-track conviction to suggest Thursday's shunt would not hinder his quest for pole.

Alonso, significantly smoother and more controlled, came in half a second back.

At this point in proceedings Raikkonen, who has not matched McLaren for pace all weekend, was third ahead of a stunning effort by Scuderia Toro Rosso's Vitantonio Liuzzi.

At the bottom end we lost Anthony Davidson, Scott Speed, Sutil, Ralf Schumacher (!), Takuma Sato and Christijan Albers, who was anchored to the dock throughout with a hydraulic leak.

On to phase two and once again it was the McLarens that set the pace.

This time Alonso had the advantage, and his lap of 1m15.431s would prove to be the quickest of the day, while at no point did his car provide the sort of wide-eyed corner exits that the sister MP4-22 was producing.

Nevertheless there was only four hundredths in it with the BMWs of Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld not that far behind.

Massa might have been higher than fifth but was hindered by the bizarre and coincidental sight of a Ferrari blocking his path at La Rascasse.

This year, though, there was no question of a professional foul, just a professional in error.

Raikkonen had collected the inside barrier in the second right of swimming pool complex and snapped a steering arm in the process.

He did make it as far as the pits, but after frantic mechanical acrobatics, he was dispatched to the motorhome/boat, to which he stomped promptly.

The Finn will start 16th, just behind compatriot Heikki Kovalainen, who was the victim of Q2's other controversy.

The Renault driver, who has struggled to come to terms with the R27 around Monaco, found himself behind David Coulthard's Red Bull on an out-lap.

The regulations regarding traffic in qualifying have been tightened up in recent years – remember Fernando Alonso's invisible-to-the-naked-eye blocking of Felipe Massa in Italy last year – and it certainly seemed that Heikki would have been faster had it not been for the Scot in front.

To rub salt in it, the next lap DC bounced into the top 10, while Kovy was well and truly out of play.

Then just as the session moved into top-10 shoot-out mode the stewards announced that Coulthard would sit out the final 15 minutes, his place instead taken by 11th-placed Honda man Jenson Button.

This final session was captivating and frustrating in equal measure.

For while McLaren set its stall out early with laps from Hamilton and Alonso that were quick enough to secure them the front row, even in the fuel-burning phase, the anticipated fight for pole never quite played out satisfactorily.

Lewis set the initial standard, but when it came time to bolt on the new tyres and go for a flier, it began to drizzle. Having lit up the track through the first sector, he clattered over the chicane and slid into and out of La Rascasse.

More than half a second evaporated just like that.

His second attempt was hindered by a mistake through the hairpin section as he came up behind Mark Webber's Red Bull.

Hamilton never even eclipsed his banker lap in the end, but still you were left wondering just how much fuel he was carrying. You were also left wondering just how fast he could have gone.

More so when Alonso's final flier sealed the deal and snatched his second Monaco pole in as many seasons.

Massa, who has had more accidents than successes in Monaco, did well to secure third for Ferrari ahead of Fisichella's Renault.

Rosberg's final lap was enough to keep back Webber on a third row that reflected talent freed by the confines of this challenging street track.

BMW may have fuelled heavier for the race as Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica occupied the fourth row ahead of the Hondas, both of which will start in the top 10 for the first time this season – Rubens Barrichello once again ahead of Jenson Button.

C'mon Lewis!

Grid

1. ALONSO McLaren

2. HAMILTON McLaren

3. MASSA Ferrari

4. FISICHELLA Renault

5. ROSBERG Williams

6. WEBBER Red Bull

7. HEIDFELD BMW

8. KUBICA BMW

9. BARRICHELLO Honda

10. BUTTON Honda

11. WURZ Williams

12. LIUZZI Toro Rosso

13. COULTHARD Red Bull*

14. TRULLI Toyota

15. KOVALAINEN Renault

16. RAIKKONEN Ferrari

17. DAVIDSON Super Aguri

18. SPEED Toro Rosso

19. SUTIL Spyker

20. SCHUMACHER Toyota

21. SATO Super Aguri

22. ALBERS Spyker

* penalised for obstructing Kovalainen

Edited May 27, 2007 by The Jol