Qualifying - Hamilton grabs first pole in Monaco

Its an all-Mercedes front row in Monaco on Sunday, as Lewis Hamilton takes pole from Nico Rosberg with Sebastian Vettel third. Its Lewis’ first ever pole in Monte Carlo.

“I can’t express to you just how happy I am” said Hamilton. It is also Mercedes’ 17th successive pole - second best streak ever in F1, a record only bettered by the dominance of Williams back in 1992-1993 with 24 straight poles.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel had a fantastic FP3 ahead of qualifying, however during all three sessions it wasn’t meant to be for Ferrari as falling temperatures did not help the Italian team.

Behind the German were Daniel Ricciardo, Daniil Kvyat, Kimi Raikkonen, Sergio Perez, Carlos Sainz, Pastor Maldonado and Max Verstappen.

During Q1, the big story was Valtteri Bottas’ elimination, as he was only one of six drivers to have made it to Q3 all season. Bottas and Williams missed out and he was out of Q2 alongside Felipe Nasr, Marcus Ericsson, Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi.

On Q2, it was poor luck for Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button. Alonso lost power into Ste Devote and was out early on, while Button suffered from a late yellow flag and had to abort his lap to get into Q3.

The shootout had spots of rain coming on, though they had no effect on the result. With a cooling track, it was all Mercedes, and Rosberg abandoned his last effort after a sector one mistake to leave Hamilton comfortably on pole.

Qualifying classification at Monte Carlo:
1 Lewis Hamilton — 1:15.098
2 Nico Rosberg — +0.342
3 Sebastian Vettel — +0.751
4 Daniel Ricciardo — +0.943
5 Daniil Kvyat — +1.084
6 Kimi Raikkonen — +1.329
7 Sergio Perez — +1.710
8 Carlos Sainz — +1.833
9 Pastor Maldonado — +1.848
10 Max Verstappen