Formula One championship leader Jenson Button put himself on pole position for a fifth win in six races after a manic Monaco Grand Prix qualifying session on Saturday. Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion whose Ferrari team is threatening to walk away at the end of the season in a standoff over the 2010 rules, joined the Briton on the front row in a sign of the Italian team's resurgence after a dismal start to the year. Button's Brazilian Brawn GP teammate Rubens Barrichello qualified third on his 37th birthday with Red Bull's German Sebastian Vettel alongside. Ferrari's Brazilian Felipe Massa starts fifth with Germany's Nico Rosberg next to him in a Williams. While one Briton celebrated, another had a nightmare afternoon. Defending champion Lewis Hamilton effectively wrecked his chances of winning for the second year in a row when he smashed his McLaren into the barriers after just 11 minutes. The 24-year-old lost the back end of the car on the entrance to the Mirabeau hairpin and hit the tire wall in the first part of qualifying. With debris on the track, the session was halted briefly while Hamilton, who qualified 16th, made his way back to the garages. Toyota, still chasing its first win, was also licking its wounds after Germany's Timo Glock and Italian Jarno Trulli filled the back row. However, Force India was on a high after breaking into the second qualifying phase for the first time this season with Giancarlo Fisichella qualifying 13th and Adrian Sutil 15th. Abu Dhabi ready for night race Abu Dhabi Grand Prix organizers are ready to stage Formula One's season finale at night. The inaugural race, which closes the 17-race calendar, will be held at the newly built Yas Marina circuit on Nov. 1. “We have the possibility to do it,” circuit boss Philippe Gurdjian said Saturday at the Monaco Grand Prix. “Light will be in place.” Gurdjian said construction of the island circuit, which will be only the second track to host a race in the Middle East, will be delivered on time as promised. Gurdjian hopes the new event will retain its place at the end of the calendar for 2010 with Bahrain holding one of the season's first races, usually in April. Meanwhile, USF1 officially entered its bid to be one of 13 teams in next season's Formula One championship. The American entry, which currently has 25 employees, is developing its car for the 2010 campaign, when teams can opt to sign up to a proposed $60 million budget cap. USF1 would not divulge whether it had agreed to enter under this plan. A decision on next year's participants will be announced on June 12.
