Monaco Grand Prix qualifying: Ricciardo breaks track record to take pole

Even before qualifying started, there were all sorts of shenanigans, with Max Verstappen requiring a new gear box from Red Bull after he crashed in final practice.

He didn't make it out on track to record a time.

Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz took his mind off the track with thoughts of a different sport.

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo continued his excellent form, showing his grasp of the course, leading Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari by almost half a second.

Valtteri Bottas was in the dropzone for much of the session, but recorded a late hot lap to get into P3, ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton by three-hundredth of a second.

Hamilton complained about lack of grip on his ultra soft tyres - both he and Bottas were using those in this second session and were significantly struggling compared to those on the hyper softs. The pair went in to change their boots in an effort to lift themselves out of the danger zone in the last five minutes - which they did.

It was still Ricciardo on the top of the pile, mind, setting yet another new track record with a 1:11.278.

Kimi Raikkonen closed the gap for Ferrari, just over a hundredth of a second slower than the Red Bull.

Pierre Gasly made it into the shootout with his Toro Rosso, scraping into P10 at the last.

Hamilton got things under way with yet another new track record - and then Ricciardo took it right back again with a 1:10.810. Incredible driving.

Vettel was the Ferrari doing his best to put some pressure on, but had to settle for P2 in the end.

Ricciardo dominated qualifying, just as he bossed all the practices, and secured pole with a superlative track record. Worth noting, though, that the man on pole hasn't gone on to win the race since 2014.

The Mercedes pair were inconsistent, struggling with their tyre strategy; the Ferraris were solid; but those four were all about half a second slower than the flying Red Bull, freed from any worries about his super-competitive colleague Verstappen, out of qualifying due to a crash earlier in the day.

Haas's weekend has been unimpressive so far, with Magnussen exiting in Q1, and Grosjean in Q2. They should be doing better than this.

Force India had a quiet but useful day, with Esteban Ocon taking P6 and Sergio Perez P9. Look out for them in the race.

Vettel - Ricciardo - Raikkonen