INQUIRER Sports

MONTE CARLO--World championship leader Jenson Button stayed cool in the dying moments of a fiercely fought qualifying session on Saturday to seize pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix.

The 29-year-old Englishman delivered a best time of 1 minute 14.902 seconds in his Brawn GP car with just seconds remaining to secure his fourth pole in six races this year and the seventh of his career.

"It's a great feeling," he said afterwards. "It means so much to get pole here, but then I say that every time, don't I? But it does mean so much here because of the history of this place and how competitive it is.

"For me, it is such a fun weekend and I have had such a close fight with (Brazilian team-mate) Rubens (Barrichello) all weekend. It has been just manic, but it is great. I am chuffed to bits."

Button said his pole lap was the best he had done all weekend and his best ever on the tight and unforgiving barrier-lined Monaco circuit. He also praised his Brawn team and his car.

"In last year's car, this would have been impossible, but this car can be improved little by little through the weekend with a few changes and this is so important for us. Mentally, it is great to be on pole here. It is a fantastic feeling.

"It is such an adrenaline rush here and a few times I thought I was going to be in the wall as we are right on the edge here."

Button, enjoying an outstanding season, outpaced nearest rival Finn Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari by two-hundredths of a second in a dramatic conclusion to the third qualifying session.

Barrichello was third ahead of German Sebastian Vettel in a Red Bull and Brazilian Felipe Massa in the second Ferrari.

Raikkonen said: "The car is the same here so we have done well and I am pretty happy to be second now after what has happened since the start of the season.

"I made a mistake on my lap when I had a moment at the first corner, but it is good to be on the front row again. It is nice too to fight for victory I hope tomorrow."

German Nico Rosberg was sixth for Williams and Finn Heikki Kovalainen seventh for McLaren Mercedes ahead of Australian Mark Webber, in the second Red Bull, two-times champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso of Renault and Japanese Kazuki Nakajima in the second Williams.

There was further woe, meanwhile, for British reigning champion Lewis Hamilton of McLaren, who crashed out of qualifying in the first session.

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

The final showdown began with Vettel on top before Rosberg delivered a 1:15.602 lap and then Vettel replied, the leading cars all giving it their utmost on varying fuel loads going into the final minutes.

Earlier, the full session began in warm sunshine with an air temperature of 25 degrees Celsius and a track temperature of 43 degrees, warm enough to create some pressures for several teams including Ferrari, Red Bull and BMW Sauber where engines were changed on the cars to be run by Massa, Vettel and Kubica.

The Brawns soon took over, Button going top followed quickly by Barrichello, in action on his 37th birthday, before Hamilton slammed into the barriers at Mirabeau, losing his rear end and triggering a red flag to halt the session.

Hamilton said: "I just don't know what I was thinking. I made a mistake. It's a mistake and I made it. It's a shame because the weekend had been going so well - I just want to apologise to the team for wasting theit time, but at least Heikki is still there.

"It has been just so tough, but you have to learn from these mistakes and I will. It's a shame it happened so early in qualifying one, but I will just have to try and make up for it in the race. Going for a win in this race--that sure is over now."