• Monaco Grand Prix - Qualifying

Back-to-back poles for impressive Webber

Mark Webber celebrates his second successive pole position © Getty Images

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• News:
• Alonso to start from pit lane
  

• Race:
• Monaco Grand Prix

• Championship:
• FIA Formula One World Championship

• Drivers:
• Robert Kubica
• |
• Sebastian Vettel
• |
• Mark Webber

• Teams:
• Red Bull
• |
• Renault

Red Bull's Mark Webberwill start from the all-important pole position at the Monaco Grand Prix, after beating Robert Kubica's Renault to the top spot in qualifying.

Webber's time of 1:13.826 was the fastest of the weekend and comfortably secured him his second pole in a row by 0.3 seconds from Kubica. Nevertheless, it was a fantastic attempt by the Renault driver, who completely outperformed his car and still managed to get ahead of Sebastian Vettel in the second Red Bull in third place.

Kubica's lap was one of the most impressive of the season, with small lock ups heading into corners and power oversteer coming out. Meanwhile Webber took a smoother approach, which was ultimately more fruitful, but also the result of a much better chassis.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa will start fourth, after falling just a few hundredths of a second short of the Vettel. Lewis Hamilton was a further 0.15 seconds off Massa and will start fifth, despite claiming to have pushed to the absolute limit.

Nico Rosberg will start sixth ahead of his team-mate Michael Schumacher, after the Mercedes pair gave conflicting reports of who held up who. Jenson Button's struggle with his McLaren continued and, true to form this weekend, he was off the pace of the fastest drivers in eighth place.

Missing from the fight for pole, and indeed the whole of qualifying, was Fernando Alonso. The Ferrari driver will have to start from the pit lane after an accident in Saturday morning practice left a crack in his Ferrari chassis. It was an uncharacteristic mistake, but should make for an exciting race as he attempts to come through the pack from the very back of the field.

Rounding out the top ten was the Williams of Rubens Barrichello and Tonio Liuzzi's Force India. Great performances in Q2 by both saw them progress into the final session, after they set quicker times than Button's McLaren.

In the other Force India Adrian Sutil failed to make Q3 despite showing promising pace all weekend. He will start 12th, behind Nico Hulkenberg and ahead of Sebastien Buemi. The second Renault of Vitaly Petrov was a second off the pace of Kubica and the rookie tainted his reputation further by crashing out at Sainte Devote halfway through Q2.

Concerns over traffic in Q1 failed to materialise as the bottom six cars joined Alonso in dropping out. Lotus's Heikki Kovalainen was the fastest of the bunch and got within 2.4 seconds of the ultimate pace, a considerable achievement for his team.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.