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  Monaco Grand Prix : Daniel Ricciardo secures maiden pole

Monaco Grand Prix : Daniel Ricciardo secures maiden pole

AGENCIES
Published : May 29, 2016, 5:42 am IST
Updated : May 29, 2016, 5:42 am IST

Daniel Ricciardo secured his maiden pole position for Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix with a stunning fastest lap for Red Bull in an incident-filled qualifying session on Saturday.

Daniel Ricciardo secured his maiden pole position for Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix with a stunning fastest lap for Red Bull in an incident-filled qualifying session on Saturday.

The 26-year-old Australian, driving with supreme aplomb, mastered the unforgiving Monte Carlo street circuit with a best lap in one minute and 13.622 seconds.

This was enough to beat both Mercedes drivers comprehensively, championship leader German Nico Rosberg winding up second behind him by 0.291 seconds and defending three-time champion Briton Lewis Hamilton third, after suffering another engine problem.

Four-time champion German Sebastian Vettel was fourth for Ferrari ahead of compatriot Nico Hulkenberg of Force India and Finn Kimi Raikkonen, in the second Ferrari. “It’s a special place and I knew we’d have a shot at it here,” said Ricciardo. “It looked good from Thursday. I had it in my mind the whole time and, after Barcelona, I felt like I’ve been driving well — and not got the rewards.

“So I came into this weekend with a lot of confidence and a lot of belief that I could be in this position. I’ve always enjoyed this place, we’ve got a good package and it’s nice to make the most of it.”

Rosberg said, “He was very fast and deserved it. We weren’t fast enough...”

A stony-faced Hamilton said: “I don’t really know what to say... At least, I did a lap so it wasn’t as bad as some of the other races. Pole was there for the taking...”

Ricciardo set his time on a set of ‘super soft’ tyres with greater durability than the ‘ultra softs’ used by his rivals — a likely tactical advantage in Sunday’s classic 78 laps race.

Red Bull, Mercedes 1st to test 2017 tyres Ferrari, Red Bull and F1 world champions Merce-des will be first to test Pirelli’s wider 2017 tyres in August, Pirelli’s racing manager Mario Isola said.

“We are working with the teams to have ‘mule cars’ vailable as soon as possible, they will be 2015 cars modified for the new tyres with additional downforce to simulate the performance.”