Championship leader Lewis Hamilton claimed his first pole position around the streets of the principality, beating his Mercedes team-mate to the top spot.
The Silver Arrows continue to have the pace advantage over their competitors and thus engaged in an exclusive battle for P1.
Hamilton trailed Nico Rosberg by nearly four tenths of a second after Q2, but reversed the positions by just over a tenth of a second after their first runs in the all-important top ten shootout.
The defending champion found even more lap time on his final run in Q3, while Rosberg abandoned his after locking up heavily at Sainte Devote.
That left Hamilton 0.342 seconds clear earning his 43th pole position in the sport and his first at Monaco.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was the only other driver to lap below one minute, 16 seconds as he secured third place, just under two tenths of a second ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo, who also failed to improve on his second run in Q3.
Team-mate Daniil Kvyat did find time on his second run to take fifth, ahead of the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen.
Force India’s Sergio Perez hustled the VJM08 to a superb seventh place, just ahead of Carlos Sainz, Pastor Maldonado and Max Verstappen, who all ended up on the same tenth in eighth, ninth and tenth.
Romain Grosjean failed to join his Lotus team-mate Maldonado in Q3, after locking up at the second part of the Swimming Pool on his quickest lap in Q2.
An expected five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change ahead of the event means Grosjean will start P16 in Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix.
McLaren-Honda was confident of getting both cars through to Q3 for the first time this season, but neither made the cut.
Fernando Alonso’s car suffered a suspected electrical problem before he could complete a flying lap in Q2, while team-mate Jenson Button was less than a tenth of a second away from making the top ten.
The 2009 race winner described the situation as “painful” when he learned of his fate, having had to slow for yellow flags – after Rosberg locked up and went off at Ste Devote – on his final flying lap.
Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg was lucky to get away with striking the wall at Mirabeau in Q1 and ended up P13, just under 0.2 seconds adrift of team-mate Perez.
Williams struggled badly in Monaco, with Felipe Massa winding up P14 while team-mate Valtteri Bottas ended up being the highest-profile casualty in Q1.
Bottas was more than six tenths of a second away from making the cut and wound up P17, between the Saubers of Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson.
The Manor/Marussias were over two seconds further back in filling the final row of the grid.
Will Stevens was three tenths quicker than team-mate Roberto Merhi through the first sector of their quickest laps, which proved crucial in the final reckoning.
So an important qualifying for Lewis Hamilton. Track position at Monaco is vital as overtaking is limited around the tight and twisty street circuit.
Nico Rosberg will need to be in a racy mood or have a great strategy to score that hat-trick of wins. Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix is going to be fascinating. Bring on the street fight.
Qualifying positions, Monaco Grand Prix:
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m15.098s
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m15.440s
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m15.849s
4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/Renault 1m16.041s
5 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull/Renault 1m16.182s
6 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m16.427s
7 Sergio Perez Force India/Mercedes 1m16.808s
8 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso/Renault 1m16.931s
9 Pastor Maldonado Lotus/Mercedes 1m16.946s
10 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso/Renault 1m16.957s
11 Jenson Button McLaren/Honda 1m17.093s
12 Nico Hulkenberg Force India/Mercedes 1m17.193s
13 Felipe Massa Williams/Mercedes 1m17.278s
14 Fernando Alonso McLaren/Honda 1m26.632s
15 Felipe Nasr Sauber/Ferrari 1m18.101s
16 Romain Grosjean Lotus/Mercedes 1m17.007s*
17 Valtteri Bottas Williams/Mercedes 1m18.434s
18 Marcus Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari 1m18.513s
19 Will Stevens Marussia/Ferrari 1m20.655s
20 Roberto Merhi Marussia/Ferrari 1m20.904s
*Five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton wants to make up for missed Monaco Grand Prix wins. So taking pole position was an important step. Autosport.com has the news story.
Lewis Hamilton is determined to make up for Monaco Grands Prix that have got away in the past after finally clinching his first Formula 1 pole position at the famed street track.
At the ninth time of asking in his F1 career, Hamilton will start from top spot on the grid in Monte Carlo after ending Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg’s bid for a hat-trick of consecutive poles at the Principality.
A mistake from Rosberg on his second run in Q3, combined with a sublime lap from reigning champion Hamilton ensured the Briton finished four tenths of a second clear of the German.
Hamilton said: “It ‘s been a long time. It was 2006 in GP2 the last time I was on pole here.
“This is a very special day, so a big thanks to the team because the performance we have in the car is outstanding.
“Obviously I now hope we can have a result tomorrow, but I’ve not even done half the job yet.
“I’m sitting here now thinking about previous situations here that have got away and not been good enough.”
Nothing could hide Hamilton’s delight, though, at claiming a long-overdue pole at the circuit, his fifth this season and 43rd of his career.
“I don’t see this as a milestone, but it’s definitely an important day for me,” said Hamilton, who was behind Rosberg at the end of Q1 and Q2.
“Every year it’s been quite poor. Sometimes I’ve not had the car, things have got in the way, sometimes I’ve had the car, but not executed it.
“So I can’t tell you how happy I am, in particular as that was not an easy session.
“I didn’t have any rhythm until the last two laps, so coming across the line I was really, really happy.”
Rosberg twice locked up at Ste Devote, first at the end of Q2 and then again on his final Q3 lap.
“I was probably the opposite to Lewis as I had a good rhythm starting off in qualifying, which I hadn’t had all weekend,” said Rosberg.
“But then I lost touch a little towards the end.
“I was going for it because I had to because I knew Lewis was quick. It didn’t work out. That’s it.”
The 2009 world champion admitted that McLaren could’ve ‘easily’ made the top ten, but Jenson Button was caught out by the yellow flag. Autosport.com has the details.
McLaren drivers Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso believe the team should have easily got both cars comfortably into the top 10 for Formula 1’s Monaco Grand Prix.
Button narrowly missed out on making Q3 due to a yellow flag at Sainte Devote on his final Q2 lap, while Alonso’s car stopped early in the second qualifying segment with a suspected electrical problem.
Alonso believes that McLaren could have had a car as high as sixth on the grid if everything had gone to plan, while Button is certain that he would have made it into the top 10 without the disruption caused by the yellow flags.
“I lost a lot of time lifting for the yellow flag and I gained most of it back,” said Button.
“I was only a tenth off my quickest lap so it would’ve easily been into the top 10.
“We are still a long way from the front but we are making good progress and we should be happy with what we are doing right now.”
Alonso, who is unsure if his car will need any changes that will result in a grid penalty following his failure, added: “We could fit both cars around sixth, seventh, eighth.
“Next time we need to improve performance and reliability, because we are too fragile.”
Both drivers believe Button, who will start 11th due to Romain Grosjean’s grid penalty for changing his gearbox, is well-placed to score McLaren’s first top-10 finish of 2015 on Sunday.
“It’s a good chance to score points,” said Button. “But it would have been a much bigger chance if we had got into the top 10 in qualifying.
“A lot could happen – it could end in Turn 1 but it could also be a great result.
“Hopefully we’ll reward the team with a point or two tomorrow.”
Alonso was less optimistic about his own chances from 14th on the grid.
“Hopefully Jenson has a chance to be in the top 10,” he said. “In my case, I think not.
“I don’t want to sound too pessimistic but this is Monaco and the race is finished on Saturday.
“It’s a train of cars on Sunday, and if nothing happens I’ll finish where I start.
“But hopefully we can put some laps in and improve our weaknesses.”
Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen has commented that his qualifying was “a disaster”. Autosport.com provides the story.
Ferrari Formula 1 driver Kimi Raikkonen said his Monaco Grand Prix qualifying was a “disaster” as his disappointing form over one lap this season continued.
The Finn has struggled to put together a tidy lap in qualifying this year and he is the only driver in 2015 to have not out-qualified his team-mate at least once.
Raikkonen will start Sunday’s race from sixth, having finished 1.3s off pole and six tenths adrift of team-mate Sebastian Vettel, who starts third.
“It was a bad result in the end as it’s difficult to overtake here,” said Raikkonen. “It’s not a very happy day.
“It’s going to be a long race if I’m stuck behind some cars, but I’ll try to get the maximum out of it.
“We had no grip on the first set [for the first run]. The second run felt normal but I had traffic.
“It was a disaster. The car felt OK but it was difficult to get heat in the tyres.”
Raikkonen hit the wall at Ste Devote in third practice but he insisted that had no impact on his performance in qualifying.
However, he said the team must get to the bottom of his qualifying struggles because it is making life in the race more difficult than it needs to be.
“We seem to manage to get it wrong every race,” he said. “We have to work on something to try and improve it.
“We don’t put ourselves in very good position for Sunday.
“It makes our races difficult when you start behind because you spend time trying to get past cars and then you drop out the fight in front.”
Ferrari looked strong in final practice, with Vettel topping the timesheets, but the temperatures dropped before qualifying which hindered the Scuderia.
But despite failing to prevent a Mercedes front row lock-out, Vettel is hopeful the team will be closer in the race.
“With higher temperatures, it could have been closer,” said Vettel.
“As it stands, we were quite far away again but tomorrow, we should be a bit closer.
“We have not been able to do long runs, no one has, but the car feels good round here.
“The start will be important. I’m starting on the inside so it gives me the possibility of a good start.”
Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo has revealed that an engine mode cost him the chance to go for third position. Autosport.com has the news story.
Daniel Ricciardo believes third on the Formula 1 grid for the Monaco Grand Prix was there for the taking but for a miscommunication on his final qualifying lap.
Ricciardo still matched his best grid slot of the year with fourth, one place ahead of Red Bull team-mate Daniil Kvyat.
The Australian, however, was left to rue a late call with regard to some switch changes going into his final run that cost him power, and ultimately a shot at third, finishing 0.192s behind Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
“People thought I was in a different engine mode, which I wasn’t, so when they told me to make the standard change it’s put us out of the correct one,” said Ricciardo.
“Starting the lap I could feel the power was down, so I realised we were in the wrong one. I turned it back, but it was too late.
“So before Turn 1 I was two tenths down, and that was that.
“It was all a bit late. Normally I was getting the call to make whatever switches I needed to make around Turn 16, and that was fine. It was giving me enough time.
“But this call came in the second to last corner, just after Rascasse, so I quickly got on the switches, but coming out of the last corner I could feel the power wasn’t right.
“We could have been third, which is the biggest frustration because we know it could have been better.
“To be fair to the engineers it’s the first time it’s happened, which is probably just due to the heat of Monaco, so to speak. It got the better of them.”
Despite the apparent step forward for Red Bull, Ricciardo feels the improvement was primarily “track specific”.
“We’re able to run max downforce, to bolt everything on we can, and work on using the car where it can work rather than trying to sacrifice a bit of balance for power,” he said.
“So most of it is the nature of the track, but I’ve always enjoyed driving around here as well.”
Kvyat, after recent criticism of his performances by Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko, matched his best qualifying performance of the season with fifth.
“It was one of those few times this year I felt really confident in the car, so that was very important,” said the Russian.
“But there were also lots of positive things from the general car behaviour, and now we’re in a situation where we have to grow and take a few steps forward.”
Carlos Sainz Jr will start the Monaco Grand Prix from the pitlane after failing to stop at the weighbridge during Formula 1 qualifying.
Sainz qualified eighth in his Toro Rosso, but he now faces an arduous race from the back after being penalised by the FIA stewards for his indiscretion.
A statement read: “The driver failed to stop for weighing during Q1 when signalled to do so by the red traffic light.
“The car was not returned to the FIA garage and work was undertaken.
“In accordance with article 26.1 (iv) of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations the driver is required to start from the pit lane.”
Sainz, speaking ahead of being called to the stewards along with a team representative, said: “The red light on the entry to the pit lane is in a place where I cannot see it.
“I saw it late, but then the next time I stopped at the weighbridge and it was fine.
“They should change the position of the light, to be honest, because I didn’t see it.”
Source: Autosport.com