Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg qualified in first and third positions during this afternoon’s qualifying session for the 70th Monaco Grand Prix. Michael will start from sixth position on the grid tomorrow, while Nico will line up in second place.

• Michael qualified on pole for the first time since the 2006 French Grand Prix but will start from P6 after a grid penalty

• Nico’s third place in qualifying will translated to a front row start for tomorrow’s race

• Last year, Sebastian Vettel qualified on pole by 0.441s; today, the same gap covered the top five qualifiers!

Michael Schumacher
It is simply a wonderful feeling to set pole after such a long time, and particularly here in Monaco. Okay, it has taken a little bit longer than I might have wanted in the second chapter of my career, but that makes it even sweeter. It’s just beautiful. We already thought that this circuit should suit us, and it’s the perfect confirmation of all the work from every team member in Brackley, Brixworth and Stuttgart – a big thank you to every one of them, because this is a team result. Of course, it’s unfortunate that I won’t start from the very front but that’s how it is. I will do as well as I can. We know that overtaking is tough but with DRS and KERS, you might as well try it – and you can be sure I will.

Nico Rosberg
I am pleased with the result today and especially for what we have shown as a team in the past few weeks. We have had a couple of difficult races since the win in China but there has been a lot of hard work to turn it round, and today we were on top as a team which is great to see. Thank you to everybody back at base who has brought us back to the front again. I had a pretty smooth qualifying session, and managed to save two sets of new super soft tyres for the race, but it was just so close out there this afternoon, it’s incredible and fantastic for Formula One. Congratulations to Michael, he did a fantastic job. Of course, I am sorry for him that he must take the penalty, but that means I will be on the front row in Monaco. And at a race where overtaking can be so difficult, that’s a great place to start.

Ross Brawn
It was a wonderful qualifying session and we are obviously delighted. Michael will take a five-place penalty tomorrow, but today he was the quickest guy out there – congratulations to him. Nico did a fantastic job as well, and was in the hunt for pole throughout the session. Having both drivers in the top three shows that the team has done a superb job this weekend to dial in the car and follow the evolution of the track. But it was a real team effort today and my thanks also to everyone back at the factories in Brackley and Brixworth. Now, we have one more step to make. Last year, we suffered big problems with the tyres at the beginning of the race. That is something we must avoid tomorrow.

Norbert Haug
What a phenomenal performance from Michael. He was the fastest man on track today when it counted and Michael truly deserves this P1 result. His five-place penalty puts him back on the third row while Nico will start from the front row tomorrow. Thank you to everybody in our team for a great effort today. Inside our team, our belief in Michael was never in danger and this has paid off big time.

Pos Driver Team Time Gap 
 1.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             1m14.301s
 2.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m14.381s
 3.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m14.448s
 4.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m14.583s
 5.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m14.639s
 6.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m14.948s
 7.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m15.049s
 8.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m15.199s
 9.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m15.245s
10.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     no time
Q2 cut-off time: 1m15.322s Gap **
11.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes 1m15.421s   + 0.510
12.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       1m15.508s   + 0.597
13.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m15.536s   + 0.625
14.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault     1m15.709s   + 0.798
15.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m15.718s   + 0.807
16.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m15.878s   + 0.967
17.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m16.885s   + 1.974
Q1 cut-off time: 1m16.491s Gap *
18.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault     1m16.538s   + 1.120
19.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault     1m17.404s   + 1.986
20.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth    1m17.947s   + 2.529
21.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth         1m18.096s   + 2.678
22.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth    1m18.476s   + 3.058
23.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth         1m19.310s   + 3.892
24.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       no time

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