Jenson Button lifts a wheel on way to pole

Formula 1 points leader Jenson Button, reportedly with a healthy 20 laps of fuel on board, put his Brawn GP car on pole position for Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix. 

But the real surprise of the session was the strong form of Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, who shares the Principality's crucial front row of the grid with the dominant Brawn runner.

The top-3 qualifiers wave to crowd

Ferrari

Button's teammate Rubens Barrichello will line up 3rd ahead of Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull entry.  Felipe Massa will start 5th for Ferrari.

Defending F1 champion Lewis Hamilton never made it out of the first qualifying segment (Q1) after he crashed and will line up 16th, an almost impossible place to win from on the tight streets of Monaco where passing is nearly impossible.

"I just don't know what I was thinking, I made a mistake.  I want to apologize to the team for wasting their time but at least Heikki (Kovalainen) is still up there," said the Briton, referring to his teammate who qualified 7th.

Jarno Trulli and Toyota lodged a protest with the stewards after the Italian cried that his chances of making it in to Q2 of qualifying were hindered by Fernando Alonso's Renault.

Beautiful Monaco

On what appeared to be his fastest lap of the weekend Trulli caught Alonso at the exit of La Rascasse and while Alonso appeared to move to the left, out of Trulli's path, the Toyota driver claimed he lost vital time.

"All weekend we have been off the pace even though I was managing to do my best," explained Trulli.

"I was putting the car through to Q2 but unfortunately in the last two corners I found the Renault which has blocked me and so I've lost my quickest lap and that was it.

Raikkonen gives Ferrari its first front row starting spot of year

Ferrari

"We have reported to the stewards and they are looking at it, and I am sure they will take action."

Therefore, Alonso's 8th place starting position could be in jeopardy.

"He's proved me wrong and got himself together," said BBC commentator Eddie Jordan, who was previously highly critical of Finn Raikkonen this season.

Raikkonen, 29, will benefit from his KERS system at the start on Sunday.

Brawn boss Ross Brawn was impressed with Button's lap, after the Briton did not always look a match for his teammate Rubens Barrichello, third on the grid, throughout the practice sessions.

Barrichello turns 37 today.

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

Also woefully slow this weekend have been the BMWs, meaning that the Force Indias unusually enjoyed the proceedings of the 'Q2' session, including Monaco specialist Giancarlo Fisichella who is 13th.

Results

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3
1	22	Jenson Button	Brawn-Mercedes	1:15.210	1:15.016	1:14.902
2	4	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:15.746	1:14.514	1:14.927
3	23	Rubens Barrichello	Brawn-Mercedes	1:15.425	1:14.829	1:15.077
4	15	Sebastian Vettel	RBR-Renault	1:15.915	1:14.879	1:15.271
5	3	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:15.340	1:15.001	1:15.437
6	16	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	1:15.094	1:14.846	1:15.455
7	2	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:15.495	1:14.809	1:15.516
8	14	Mark Webber	RBR-Renault	1:15.260	1:14.825	1:15.653
9	7	Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:15.898	1:15.200	1:16.009
10	17	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	1:15.930	1:15.579	1:17.344
11	12	Sebastien Buemi	STR-Ferrari	1:15.834	1:15.833	-
12	8	Nelsinho Piquet	Renault	1:16.013	1:15.837	-
13	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Mercedes	1:16.063	1:16.146	-
14	11	Sebastien Bourdais	STR-Ferrari	1:16.120	1:16.281	-
15	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	1:16.248	1:16.545	-
16	1	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:16.264	-	-
17	6	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	1:16.264	-	-
18	5	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	1:16.405	-	-
19	9	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1:16.548	-	-
20	10	Timo Glock	Toyota	1:16.788	-	-