First princely pole for Ricciardo

Already a Grand Prix winner, with his three successes in 2014, Daniel Ricciardo entered the circle of drivers who took a pole position in the Grand Prix. Better for the Australian Red Bull Racing, he enters the even more closed circle of drivers having signed a pole position on the legendary Monaco track.

Thanks to a remarkable best lap in 1'13'622, Ricciardo allowed himself to get ahead of the two Mercedes W07 Hybrid by Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. The German failed in his last attempt to snatch pole, while Hamilton was again hampered in its progress by a mechanical problem at the very start of Q3 by stopping in the pit lane. Brought back by the mechanics to its box, the No. 07 W44 finally returned to the track and after several warm-up laps, Hamilton finally set a time, propelling him to the second row. Note that Daniel Ricciardo set his Q2 time on super-soft tires, with which he will start the Grand Prix tomorrow.

The Briton will share this area of ​​the grid with the Ferrari de Sebastian Vettel, who certainly expected a better result after dominating the last free practice session this morning. Nico Hulkenberg (Force India) will start on the third line alongside the Toro Rosso de Carlos Sainz, since Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari), sixth in qualifying, will have to observe a five-place penalty for a gearbox change.

Sergio Pérez (Force India) follows in the ranking and precedes Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso) and Fernando Alonso (McLaren). Valtteri Bottas (Williams) signed the 11th time of the session, ahead of the Haas VF-16 by Esteban Gutiérrez, who dominates Romain Grosjean, only 15th ahead of the first Renault de Kevin Magnussen.

These qualifications were marked by the error of Max Verstappen in Q1, at the Piscine chicane. The Dutchman first hit the rail on the inside of the first turn, breaking his right front suspension, before ending up in the rail on the outside coming out of the chicane. Felipe Nasr (Sauber) also had a difficult session, with his engine exploding at the start of Q1.

Photos from the Monaco Grand Prix can be viewed in our dedicated gallery. The race will start tomorrow at 14 p.m. and will be followed live with commentary on our website.

Qualification results