Daniel Ricciardo, take a bow! 1:30 left in the session and Nico Rosberg is his closest competitor. Nico Hulkenberg doing very well here ….but DANIEL RICCIARDO TAKES POLE POSITION!
It’s the first ever pole position of his Formula One career!
And Lewis Hamilton is OUT! Straightaway on the track for the final qualifying session, the Briton reports “engine trouble” and his car comes to a halt. That’s his session ended – he cannot catch a break this season!
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Elsewhere, Kimi Raikkonen's unhappy and complaining about Daniel Ricciardo – who is himself on the offensive – and he’s burning rubber today! 1:13.622 for the Australian who’s gone on top in the session – and Sebastian Vettel is 0.93s behind him! Raikkonen is right behind his teammate...but with a 5-place grid penalty that won't mean much.
CHEQUERED FLAGS for Q2!
Nico Rosberg pushes – and it pays off! He’s on top of the standings in Q2 with 1:14.043 as Hamilton trails him by 0.013s. Not much of a gap. Both drivers are on the ultrasofts – as is everyone else on the grid. The only ones who have used any other tyres are the Force Indias, who each used the supersofts before switching to ultrasoft. Both drivers – Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez – are into Q3!
Eliminated in Q2: Valtteri Bottas, Esteban Gutierrez, Jenson Button, Felipe Massa, Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen! Both Haas and Williams cars are out, uncharacteristic for the relatively strong midfield team.
Daniel Ricciardo goes second fastest ahead of Nico Rosberg! He’s now only 0.3s behind leader Hamilton – a significant gap but a far smaller one given the circumstances.
Nobody so far has been able to come close to Hamilton’s time. Rosberg touches the barrier exactly where Verstappen hit it but there’s no visible damage. Valtteri Bottas of Williams is pushing hard to progress to Q3 but he’s not looking fast enough. Teammate Felipe Massa‘s time already is too slow, with both Haas F1 cars also in the drop zone; Renault’s Kevin Magnussen is currently at the bottom.
Lewis Hamilton is in it to win! After Vettel takes top spot, the Mercedes get out on track and decimate their competition. Hamilton tops with a 1:14.056 – nearly half a second ahead of his own teammate Rosberg, who has miniscule gaps to Daniel Ricciardo in P3 and Vettel in P4 for now.
That’s a significant gap – and if he can hold on to it, or as the Briton often does, improve on it, he’ll look to be a shoo-in for pole! He had pole position at the 2015 Grand Prix, but lost out on the race win to Rosberg.
Q2 underway!
Both Ferraris are on track. Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat is doing quite well here; still Sebastian Vettel who’s ruling the roost – could we see Ferrari challenge for the race win today?
Kvyat has set the earliest time of Q2 – at 1:27.029 and it’s faster than both Ferraris for the moment.
CHEQUERED FLAG! Sebastian Vettel tops Q1 followed by Hamilton and Rosberg.
Eliminated in Q1: Marcus Ericsson, Jolyon Palmer, Pascal Wehrlein, Rio Haryanto and Max Verstappen, who crashed early on.
10 seconds to go in Q1 and Fernando Alonso is a bit close to the drop zone but he’s safe – and he goes ahead of teammate Button to finish Q1 in 10th!
3 and a half minutes to go and Vettel’s on top as the session resumes after the second red flag! The top 7 have all pitted and it’s Kevin Magnussen, Pascal Wehrlein, Jolyon Palmer and Rio Haryanto all in the elimination zone as Max Verstappen is out.
SECOND RED FLAG and there’s a CRASH! Spanish Grand Prix winner Max Verstappen is OUT of qualifying after going into the barriers. A lot of debris on the track and the session is halted with 6:30 to go.
And it’s Mercedes on top! Hamilton leads with 1:14.381 and Rosberg 0.042s behind him. Vettel is in third – and with 10 times that gap at 0.419s behind Hamilton. That should more than highlight the difference in power.
NOTE: Kimi Raikkonen will receive a 5-place grid penalty for a new gearbox. He finished P3 in 9th and has not looked particularly fast today, but with a quick first sector could make up.
A Ferrari engine in the Sauber has completely done a number, with team and Felipe Nasr both visibly disappointed. Hamilton is quick already, but Haas’ Romain Grosjean appears to be struggling a bit. Not the best lap from the Frenchman.
AND THEY’RE OFF! Q1 is underway and problems straightaway. Sauber’s Felipe Nasr sees his engine fail in dramatic fashion – there’s smoke pouring from his engine and the session is red flagged.
Almost time for qualifying! It’s been quite the open field here – Hamilton went top in P1, Ricciardo in P2 and Vettel in P3! Have we got a proper fight on our hands?
30 minutes to qualifying! The weather at Monte Carlo is sunny and 22 degrees and the track temperature around 37 celsius. Good racing conditions today and no inkling of any inclement conditions.
Preview
The sixth race on the 2016 Formula One calendar, the Monaco Grand Prix is underway in the European principality. Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel topped final practice after Red Bull and Mercedes both looked strong today; Lewis Hamilton, who has been overshadowed by teammate and current championship leader Nico Rosberg this season, put up a solid fight as he went ahead of his teammate on the timesheets today.
The new purple compound ultrasoft tyres were debuted today, and most drivers had them on their cars for today’s first session.
Rosberg currently sits atop the drivers’ standings, has won fiur of the year’s 5 races so far. Teammate Hamilton won his third world championship – and second in a row – in the 2015 season, but this year has been plagued with a series of issues.
Ferrari driver and 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen is second behind Rosberg in the drivers’ standings, but with less than half of the German’s total points tally it does not look good for Ferrari, who this year were supposed to have a stronger, more powerful engine that could challenge Mercedes’ two-year dominance.
The Maranello-based outfit, however, have been facing serious problems this year, most notably for Sebastian Vettel, who was involved in not one but two shunts, one of them ending what would otherwise have been a very strong race, both by Daniil Kvyat (formerly) of Red Bull.
Red Bull Racing, who had a difficult 2015 season with an unreliable engine and serious electrical problems, have enjoyed a significant resurgence this season; after signing a one-year contingency deal for Renault to supply engines, being rejected by both Ferrari and Mercedes, the engines have served the side effectively in 2016.
The team have seen a massive overhaul, and not just in terms of their significantly improved results. 2015 standout star Max Verstappen, who drove that season and the first four races of 2016 for Red Bull junior team Toro Rosso, was promoted to Red Bull ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, replacing Russian driver Daniil Kvyat, who was involved in two race shunts with Ferrari driver and former Red Bull champion Sebastian Vettel.
Kvyat now partners Verstappen’s former teammate Carlos Sainz Jr at the team.
Moving Verstappen to the senior team proved to be an astute move for the side, with the 18-year-old taking his first ever race win at the recently-concluded Spanish Grand Prix. With that victory, the Dutch teen set a series of records – becoming the first ever Grand Prix winner from his country. He has also become the youngest ever Grand Prix winner in Formula One history as a result.
Going into the Monaco Grand Prix, where Verstappen tried to steal a move on then-Lotus driver Romain Grosjean and crashed, the youngster looks positive. Although he had a minor brush with the barriers at Massenet in the final practice session, Verstappen nevertheless had one of the fastest times on the track, going 5th fastest behind teammate Daniel Ricciardo.
Daniil Kvyat finished just behind Verstappen in 6th, and although Ferrari and Sebastian led the way, Mercedes were very close behind, with Hamilton quickly closing out the gap to Vettel.
Predictions
The teams have debuted the ultrasofts today and most of the otherwise ‘midfield’ teams are setting good times today. Right now it’s looking like a three-way fight between Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes, although only Sebastian Vettel has been particularly impressive, with Monaco veteran Kimi Raikkonen not doing particularly well in the practice session.
Given that Raikkonen does have the propensity to win from difficult qualifying positions it could still be open for the driver if he qualifies lower down the grid. Right now at 9th behind a series of junior drivers, the Finn will push hard in the qualifying session.
