Analysis: Monaco Suits Trulli's Temperament

The detractors who accuse Renault's Jarno Trulli of standing out more for his changing hairstyles and bandanas than his race performances may soon have to eat their words.

The Italian's first Formula One pole position, at the 117th attempt, in Monaco on Saturday gave the Renault a real chance of charging to his first win in Sunday's glamour Grand Prix.

The 29-year-old with the top-knot feels at home in Monaco's glitzy surroundings, even if he lives in the comparatively unsophisticated surroundings of an Oxfordshire village in rural England.

His first front row start was in the Mediterranean principality with Jordan in 2000 and he finished fourth in the 2002 race and sixth last year.

"The only thing I've missed here has been victory back in 1996 when I was racing in Formula Three from pole and then I lost it during the race because I had a problem," he told a news conference on Saturday.

"But I've always been very competitive. It's the right place to claim my first ever pole position. It's something that any driver looks for and I've been waiting a long time because I've been chasing it for a long time."

Trulli will be a force to reckon with on Sunday, all the more so after his blistering start to the last Spanish Grand Prix when he seized the lead from the second row and led for the first nine laps.

He has led races before, memorably in Austria in 1997 in his first season in Formula One with the Prost team, but he has never been able to make it stick right to the chequered flag.

That could be about to change with his car well suited to Monaco tight and twisty streets that make overtaking almost impossible.

If he can get a jump on the others and Ferrari's six-times World Champion Michael Schumacher is held up from his fourth place on the grid, Trulli could be celebrating a memorable afternoon.

He believes the omens are on his side, with his results progressively improving from seventh in Australia to fifth in Malaysia, fourth in Bahrain and third in Spain after a fifth-placed blip in San Marino.

"I've always said that I'm looking for my first pole position; I've got it," said the Italian. "I've always been saying that I'm looking for my first victory; Hopefully I will get it."

The first corner will be crucial, with Trulli lining up alongside Briton Jenson Button and with his own Spanish teammate Fernando Alonso right behind.

"It doesn't mean that if you are leading by the first corner then you are going to win the race," he cautioned.

"We know that Monaco is such a difficult race, anything can happen. It is just a matter of getting out of the first corner without any accident."