23/05/2009
NEWS STORY
Brawn GP's Jenson Button secured his fourth pole of the season and his best qualifying position ever for the Monaco Grand Prix around the iconic Monte Carlo street circuit today. Team-mate Rubens Barrichello put his Brawn-Mercedes car on the second row of the grid for tomorrow's 78-lap race with an excellent third position.
A tight qualifying hour began with an interrupted Q1 as the session was briefly red-flagged to clear a car on track. The Brawn GP drivers completed two runs, firstly on the prime and then the softer option tyre, to end the session with Jenson in second position and Rubens in fifth place.
Favouring the option tyre for the remainder of the qualifying hour, Jenson struggled with understeer and a lack of front grip in Q2, finishing the session in eighth place with Rubens ahead in fourth position. An intense Q3 saw the pair lying in third and fourth positions after the first runs, before Jenson snatched pole from Kimi Raikkonen in the dying seconds of the session.
Jenson Button: "It's so important to qualify well in Monaco and I am really happy to have achieved pole position here today. It means a lot to me, they all do, but this one is so important for the race tomorrow. It was definitely a lap to remember and I was really on the edge the whole way round! It was a real fight today and I thought that Rubens would have the upper hand in qualifying as he has been so strong all weekend. I struggled on Thursday to find a good balance and we had a few issues that needed to be worked on, however we made some changes since then. I really have to thank everyone at the factory in Brackley and at Mercedes-Benz for producing such a strong and responsive car which allows us to make progress quickly. It's not going to be easy in the race tomorrow as Monaco is just so unpredictable but starting from pole is without doubt the best position be in."
Rubens Barrichello: "Well I had a great lap today at the end of the final qualifying session so Jenson's lap must have been fantastic! I'm very happy with my position for the race tomorrow and really got everything possible out of the car today. Of course I'm sorry that I didn't get pole position but the car has felt really good all weekend and we have a great chance for the race tomorrow. This is my seventeenth Monaco Grand Prix but the special feeling that you get from driving around here never changes and it is such a great challenge. It will be a really close and exciting race tomorrow and I'll be giving my all for the win."
Ross Brawn: "A very good day's work from the team with great laps right at the end of the final qualifying session from Jenson and Rubens. To achieve pole and third position on the grid in the most important qualifying hour of the season is a real achievement and puts us in a strong position for the race tomorrow. Jenson had to work quite hard on his set-up as he has been struggling with the balance and a lack of front grip all weekend so he knew that the lap had to be extra special to make the difference and he delivered very impressively. Rubens, as ever, excels around Monaco and he is very well placed to take the fight to Jenson tomorrow. The cars around us are also looking strong so it is going to be a very interesting race."