By BMW Sauber F1
May 23 2009

In qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix, Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica both failed to advance to the second knockout phase. Consequently, they start 17th and 18th on tomorrow's grid. For the BMW Sauber F1 Team drivers, all hopes of securing promising positions on the Monaco GP grid ended as early as Q1. Both went out early for a first five-lap run and neither Nick nor Robert was able to set a truly competitive lap time. Halfway though Q1 they both went out for a second time but had to abort their laps as McLaren's Lewis Hamilton had hit the crash barriers and the session was red-flagged for several minutes to offer the marshals the possibility to salvage the car and clean the track. With three minutes remaining, Nick and Robert both went out for their third runs, and although they both succeeded in improving significantly, their personal best times of 1:16.264 minutes (Nick) and 1:16.405 minutes (Robert) weren't good enough to make it to the second knockout phase of qualifying. In the end, Nick had to settle for finishing 17th and Robert ended the session 18th, right behind his team-mate. The fastest lap of Q1 was set by Williams' Nico Rosberg who crossed the line in 1:15.094 minutes.

Eliminated: Lewis Hamilton, Nick Heidfeld, Robert Kubica, Jarno Trulli, Timo Glock.

The second knockout phase of qualifying was dominated by the Finnish fraction on the 2009 Formula One grid. Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen was quickest with a 1:14.514-minute lap while his compatriot Heikki Kovalainen finished second by crossing the line in 1:14.909 minutes.

Eliminated: Sébastien Buemi, Nelson Piquet, Giancarlo Fisichella, Sébastien Bourdais, Adrian Sutil.

Brawn GP's Jenson Button is the pole-sitter in Monaco. The Briton secured pole with a 1:40.902-minute lap. Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen (1:14.927 minutes) finished second and Button's team-mate Rubens Barrichello completed the top three by setting a personal best time of 1:15.077 minutes.

Result: 1st Jenson Button, 2nd Kimi Räikkönen, 3rd Rubens Barrichello, 4th Sebastian Vettel, 5th Felipe Massa, 6th Nico Rosberg, 7th Heikki Kovalainen, 8th Mark Webber, 9th Fernando Alonso, 10th Kazuki Nakajima.