Button on pole

Formula One championship leader Jenson Button put himself on pole position for a fifth win in six races after a manic Monaco Grand Prix qualifying session yesterday.

Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion whose Ferrari team are threatening to walk away at the end of the season in a standoff over the 2010 rules, joined the Briton on the front row with the Italian team returning to form after a dismal start to the year.

Button's Brazilian Brawn GP team-mate Rubens Barrichello qualified third on his 37th birthday with Red Bull's German Sebastian Vettel alongside.

"Today was a really tough fight," said Button of a seventh career pole position, and fourth in six races, secured with a flying lap of 1:14.902 right at the end of qualifying.

"It was manic, as it always is in Monaco, It's good to have come away with the pole," added the Monaco resident.

The published weights showed Button's car had about two laps more fuel on board than Raikkonen, weighing in at 647.5kg compared to the Finn's s 644.0. Vettel had the lightest car on the grid at 631.5.

"I think Jenson is getting into the habit of saving the best for last," team boss Ross Brawn said. "He knew that was the lap where he had to produce and he's just driving exceptionally well at the moment."

Ferrari's Brazilian Felipe Massa starts fifth, completing Ferrari's best qualifying of the season, with Germany's Nico Rosberg next to him in a Williams.

Raikkonen doubted he could have done a better time: "It's good to be back in the fight for the top places and I will give it my best shot to try and win," he said.

While one Briton celebrated, another had a nightmare afternoon.

Lewis Hamilton will start last after wrecking his chances of winning for the second year in a row when he smashed his McLaren into the barriers.

The 24-year-old lost the back end of the car on the entrance to the Mirabeau hairpin and hit the tyre wall in the first part of qualifying.

McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh told reporters the car's gearbox would be changed, with the penalty sending Hamilton from 16th to last place.