Maldonado: I could have gone quicker

Maldonado, who scored his second pole in three races this year for Piquet Sports, was not fastest in either of the three sector times in qualifying, but his consistency over the lap was such that he set two laps good enough for pole. He believes he can stay on top during Friday morning's feature race.

"For sure, I could have driven faster today," he said. "But I was never going to take any big risks, especially with all the traffic around. Pole position here is worth 90 per cent of the race, and now that is in my pocket."

The Venezuelan is confident that his start problems of the opening two events have been resolved ahead of tomorrow's race.

"I have already tried some starts this weekend and there have been no problems," he said. "We found a problem in the clutch, and we have fixed this. My championship starts here, and there is still 80 per cent of the races remaining. I've been unlucky so far, but I'm feeling relaxed about this pole position."

When reminded of his potential for a hat-trick of victories in Monaco, following on from his Formula Renault 3.5 win in 2006 and GP2 triumph last year, he promised: "There will be a third win tomorrow."