Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo took his first ever pole position after turning a 1:13.622 on the streets of Monte Carlo Saturday in qualifying for Sunday's Monaco GP.
Mercedes drivers Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton qualified behind in second and third positions respectively. Hamilton had spent the first half of Q3 in the garage due to a loss of power at the start of the session.
Ricciardo ran the supersoft tires in the second qualifying session as opposed to the ultrasoft tires, meaning he will get to start Sunday's race on those supersoft tires and go deeper into his first run that the Mercedes teammates.
Behind them, Kimi Raikkonen had qualified in sixth position but has a five-place gearbox penalty for Sunday's race, pushing him back to 11th on the grid.
While six teams saw one or both of their drivers advance into the third and final qualifying session, both Williams teammates were knocked out in Q2, with Valtteri Bottas set to line up in 10th (after Raikkonen's penalty) and Felipe Massa in 14th. The U.S.-based Haas F1 Team was also knocked out in that session.
The first qualifying session was interrupted twice by brief red flag periods, the first caused when the Ferrari engine in Felipe Nasr's Sauber let go during his first lap out of the pits. Later in the session, 18-year-old Max Verstappen, fresh off his win in Spain, turned in too early at the Swimming Pool, clipping the wall. The impact broke his suspension, causing his Red Bull Racing machine to go head-on into a protected barrier. Fortunately, Verstappen was OK.
Kevin Magnussen is under investigation after replays showed that he left pit road while the pit exit light was still red.
Unofficial starting grid:
1. Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull
2. Nico Rosberg - Mercedes
3. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes
4. Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari
5. Nico Hulkenberg - Force India
6. Carlos Sainz - Toro Rosso
7. Sergio Perez - Force India
8. Daniil Kvyat - Toro Rosso
9. Fernando Alonso - McLaren
10. Valtteri Bottas - Williams
11. Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari - after 5-place grid penalty
12. Esteban Gutierrez - Haas
13. Jenson Button - McLaren
14. Felipe Massa - Williams
15. Romain Grosjean - Haas
16. Kevin Magnussen - Renault
17. Marcus Ericsson - Sauber
18. Jolyon Palmer - Renault
19. Rio Haryanto - Manor
20. Pascal Wehrlein - Manor
21. Max Verstappen - Red Bull
22. Felipe Nasr - Sauber
Track marshals look at car of Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of Netherlands after crashing during the qualification at the Monaco racetrack in Monaco, Monaco, Saturday, May 28, 2016. The Formula One race will be held on Sunday.
