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| Daniel Ricciardo celebrates taking pole position in front of Mercedes' Nico Rosberg (left) and Lewis Hamilton |
Lewis
Hamilton chugged and charged around Monte Carlo but to no avail. The Red
Bull of Daniel Ricciardo will start on pole position for the Monaco
Grand Prix after he set the fastest time the Principality’s streets have
ever staged.
Nico Rosberg of Mercedes will start second and Hamilton third.
With
pole here so important given the lack of overtaking opportunities on
the narrow thread of tarmac, Ricciardo will begin the 78-lap race as
favourite on Sunday.
He produced a
brilliant lap – 1min 13.622sec – to hold the early lead. Hamilton, who
lost power and had to be rolled back to the pits for repair work on a
fuel pressure problem, fell three-tenths short of the Australian.
Hamilton,
who was unsmiling in the immediate aftermath, will have his work cut
out to trim Rosberg’s championship lead of 43 points over him. There is
also the potential for a smash given their proximity and their collision
in Spain a fortnight ago.
The
world champion , who was on target to overhaul Ricciardo before his
advantage evaporated in the last sector, said: ‘It was a difficult
qualifying. I don’t know what to say. I was at least able to get out
there to do a lap – better than some races when I have had engine
problems.’
Ricciardo’s pole was the first of his career.
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