Michael Schumacher scored pole position in Monaco in 2012 in his Mercedes at the age of 43, in his third year after his return from retirement, and 18 years after his first pole position in Monaco in 1994. It was the 69th pole of his career and his fourth in Monaco.

Only the late Ayrton Senna scored more pole positions in Monaco, with five, while Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, Alain Prost and Juan Manuel Fangio have also scored four pole positions in the principality.


But no one scored two poles with so many years separating them as Schumacher.

The pole position is generally considered an indispensable first step toward victory on the track where it is so difficult to overtake, but Schumacher's extraordinary feat unfortunately lost that advantage as he then had to start the race in sixth position after a penalty that cost him five positions on the starting grid.

That penalty comes from an accident he caused at the Spanish Grand Prix, two weeks before, when he ran into the back of the car of Bruno Senna, Ayrton's nephew.

Aryton holds the record for victories in Monaco with six, and only Schumacher and Graham Hill have won the race five times.

But after taking three years off in retirement and then returning to race again at the age of 41 in 2010, Schumacher achieved his best grid position so far - at the most prestigious race of the Formula 1 calendar.

Schumacher's total of 69 pole positions is a record. Senna had 65, while Jim Clark and Alain Prost have had 33 each.

"I'm more than thrilled and excited about making a pole here in Monaco," said Schumacher. "Monaco to all of us is the track of the year with its prestigious position. And to make pole here after what I have had in the last two and a half years... I told you on Thursday I wanted to get pole, start sixth and win the race."

Mario Andretti scored pole position at the Italian Grand Prix in 1982 at 42 years old, Jack Brabham scored pole in Spain at 44 in 1970, while in the 1950s, Giuseppe Farina scored pole in Argentina at 47 in 1954 and Juan Manuel Fangio scored pole at 46 in 1958 in Argentina.

Schumacher had been constantly criticized in the previous two and a half years for being out-raced by his teammate at Mercedes, Nico Rosberg, who is 26, and who won his first race at the Chinese Grand Prix earlier this season. Schumacher had yet to finish a race on the podium, in one of the top three positions, although he ended up doing that at the European Grand Prix in Valencia, in June 2012.

But Monaco is not only the most prestigious track on the calendar, it is also known as the most difficult to master, and the one where a driver can make the biggest difference over to the machinery. Of the pole, Schumacher said. "It reminds people I'm still around."

In the end, however, it was a typical Monaco Grand Prix procession: The man on pole finished first - and that was Mark Webber, who inherited Schumacher's pole, while the man who started second finished second, and none of many potential surprises came to be.

Mark Webber in his Red Bull car led the race almost from start to finish - except during the pit stop period - to take his eighth career victory and his second victory in Monaco, where he won two years ago. He did, however, provide the series an unprecedented sixth different winner in the first six races.

''I think we got the maximum out of this weekend, and were fortunate to get pole,'' Webber said. ''It was a very interesting race, reasonably straightforward at the start, getting the gap with Nico, and we both got away, and then it was a question of maintaining the gap.''

Still, the procession was tight, with the top four finishers within 1.3 seconds of each other. Webber finished only 0.6 seconds from Nico Rosberg in a Mercedes and 0.9 seconds ahead of Fernando Alonso in a Ferrari.

Had it not been for a penalty that he received for causing an accident at the previous race in Spain two weeks ago, Michael Schumacher would most likely have won his sixth Monaco Grand Prix, and written history yet again. Instead, after the 43-year-old German scored his fourth pole position in the principality on Saturday, 18 years after his first pole here, was bumped back to sixth position to start at a race where leading from the beginning usually means finishing in the lead as well.

The only real excitement of the race was during the crazy start, when Schumacher tried to squeeze his car past the Lotus of Romain Grosjean to move up the pack from his sixth place. At the same time Grosjean and Alonso touched, and Grosjean failed to see Schumacher. The rear wheel of the Lotus struck the German's Mercedes and Grosjean spun around, causing chaos that knocked out two other cars.

Much of the rest of the pack took a shortcut through the first corner to avoid the mess, and Schumacher dropped down to eighth. Despite having an impeccable race, he retired with a fuel pressure problem with 14 laps left.

''It was simply a pity to end the race in this way,'' Schumacher said. ''In any case, the fuel pressure problem had nothing to do with the incident at the start. But it made it doubly disappointing because I had secretly been hoping for a podium finish today.''