Monaco Grand Prix qualifying: Kimi Raikkonen on pole for first time in nine years

The Ferraris have been fabulous so far this weekend, and started off just as promisingly, with Sebastian Vettel heading the pack ahead of Kimi Raikkonen.

Then the Red Bulls decided to come out to play, with Max Verstappen impressing on his first run, and last year's pole-sitter Daniel Ricciardo going a smidge quicker.

The two teams then proceeded to exchange P1 for the next ten minutes, while the Mercedes duo of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton loitered in the middle of the rankings. What a terrific start to qualifying in the Monaco sunshine.

Except for Jolyon Palmer, who returned to the pits with a puncture, and for Romain Grosjean, who took a big spin in his Haas at Mirabeau, ending up facing the wrong way and fortunate not to get hit by any approaching driver, and for Marcus Ericsson, who lost a rear tyre at some point after hitting a barrier.

Hamilton struggled to keep his car on the track during his flying laps, meaning his times were fairly unimpressive.

"Something's not right with the car - can we sort this out?" the Brit reported, still lingering in the drop zone.

Then Stoffel Vandoorne, already seventh quickest, promptly took his McLaren into a wall, stopping Hamilton's final effort to clock a decent time. Drama!

Know who went through to Q3, though? Super-sub Jenson Button, having a nice weekend and revelling in senior citizen status in the absence of fellow old McLaren cynic Fernando Alonso.

It was Raikkonen blazing a trail in Q3, going quicker and quicker all the way through the session, and gripping on to pole ahead of his team-mate Vettel, and his compatriot Bottas.

Button logged a single lap, but seeing as he has a grid penalty in that accursed McLaren, there was no point bothering with doing too much.

Well, that was fun. This is turning out to be a great season so far - and Raikkonen grabbed his first pole position since France in 2008. Even the famously unemotional Finn must have cracked a bit of a smile at that. And what of Hamilton? Livid and lumbered with a car that was not handling well. What will happen tomorrow?

Who'd have thought it'd be the Silver Arrows jinxed with technical issues? Still, don't put it past Hamilton to steal past the traffic and get himself a decent finish.

Carlos Sainz is quietly progressing very well indeed. A solid qualifying from him, and some decent points on offer should he be able to grasp them.

Vettel - Raikkonen - Bottas