Nico Rosberg secured his second consecutive Monaco Grand Prix pole position by beating team-mate Lewis Hamilton who starts second.
The German however ended the battle early after he ran wide at Mirabeau on his final flying lap, bringing out the yellow flags and forcing Hamilton to back off so as to avoid a penalty – diffusing the battle at the front.
A charging Hamilton was clearly annoyed by the outcome, though refused to say much about the incident during the post-qualifying press conference.
Daniel Ricciardo will once again start third after beating Sebastian Vettel by just over a tenth. Behind the Red Bull pair are the Ferrari duo with Fernando Alonso well ahead of Kimi Raikkonen’s time by some six tenths.
Jean-Eric Vergne impressed for Toro Rosso with seventh, two places ahead of his team-mate Daniil Kvyat in ninth – split by the McLaren of Kevin Magnussen.
Sergio Perez rounds off the top ten, a place ahead of Nico Hulkenberg.
The session saw some drama during Q1 with Kvyat spinning at the exit of the tunnel, damaging his front-wing, but ultimately it didn’t hurt his performance.
Felipe Massa however was ruled out of Q2 after Marcus Ericsson’s error forced the Brazilian into the wall at Mirabeau.
Qualifying – 2014 Monaco Grand Prix
| # | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:17.678 | 1:16.465 | 1:15.989 |
| 02 | L. Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:17.823 | 1:16.354 | 1:16.048 |
| 03 | D. Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:17.900 | 1:17.233 | 1:16.384 |
| 04 | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 1:18.383 | 1:17.074 | 1:16.547 |
| 05 | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 1:17.853 | 1:17.200 | 1:16.686 |
| 06 | K. Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:17.902 | 1:17.398 | 1:17.389 |
| 07 | J. Vergne | Toro Rosso | 1:17.557 | 1:17.657 | 1:17.540 |
| 08 | K. Magnussen | McLaren | 1:17.978 | 1:17.609 | 1:17.555 |
| 09 | D. Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1:18.616 | 1:17.594 | 1:17.090 |
| 10 | S. Perez | Force India | 1:18.108 | 1:17.755 | 1:17.327 |
| 11 | N. Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:18.432 | 1:17.846 | |
| 12 | J. Button | McLaren | 1:17.890 | 1:17.988 | |
| 13 | V. Bottas | Williams | 1:18.407 | 1:18.082 | |
| 14 | R. Grosjean | Lotus | 1:18.335 | 1:18.196 | |
| 15 | P. Maldonado | Lotus | 1:18.585 | 1:18.356 | |
| 16 | F. Massa | Williams | 1:18.209 | No Time | |
| 17 | E. Gutierrez | Sauber | 1:18.741 | ||
| 18 | A. Sutil | Sauber | 1:18.745 | ||
| 19 | J. Bianchi | Marussia | 1:19.332 | ||
| 20 | M. Chilton | Marussia | 1:19.928 | ||
| 21 | K. Kobayashi | Caterham | 1:20.133 | ||
| 22 | M. Ericsson | Caterham | 1:21.732 |
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