F1 Paddock Notebook - Monaco GP Saturday

Recapping all of the odds and ends from qualifying day for the Monaco Grand Prix, Crash.net F1 Editor Luke Smith brings you his paddock notebook.

- Daniel Ricciardo's charge to pole position was only the second of his Formula 1 career, coming two years after his maiden success at Monaco two years ago. It also marked two years since Red Bull's last F1 pole position that came at the same point.

- Ricciardo produced two laps that would have been good enough for pole position, despite failing to improve with his second effort. Sebastian Vettel finished as the best of the rest in P2, two-tenths of a second back at the head of the field.

- Teammate Max Verstappen got caught up in an incident for the sixth straight race weekend, although the Dutchman was very much on the defensive post-qualifying after failing to get out as a result of the damage caused in his FP3 crash. Verstappen's car was repaired in time to make Q1, only for a leak to emerge from the gearbox when the car was fired up, ruling him out of the session.

- Red Bull was forced into a gearbox on Verstappen's car, prompting a five-place grid penalty. This will be meaningless, though, as he has to start last anyway.

- Less than two-tenths of a second separated the drivers from P6 to P10 in Q3, covering Esteban Ocon, Fernando Alonso, Carlos Sainz Jr., Sergio Perez and Pierre Gasly.

- Alonso was able to pick up his best qualifying result of the season in P7, bettering his run to ninth in Spain when he made Q3 for the first time this season. This came following a significant setup change after FP3 when Alonso could only finish 15th.

- Carlos Sainz Jr. defeated Nico Hulkenberg in qualifying for the second race in a row, taking P8 as the German dropped out in Q2, finishing 11th after an error on his final lap.

- Pierre Gasly was able to reach Q3 for the second time this season, and for the first time since Bahrain. Gasly qualified 10th, albeit after a brush with the wall at the same barrier Verstappen crashed at. "When I touched the wall, my first thought was Max!" Gasly admitted after the session.

- Teammate Brendon Hartley was left a frustrated P16 after failing to get a clean run in Q1, with his final effort being hindered by yellow flags and a slow-going Force India. Traffic was a problem for many drivers throughout the session.

- Stoffel Vandoorne was hampered through qualifying by a gearbox problem that affected the balance on his McLaren car, meaning he could only qualify P12. Vandoorne is the only driver yet to have beaten his teammate in qualifying so far this season.

- Charles Leclerc will make his Monaco home race debut from 14th on the grid after reaching Q2 for the third race in a row. He will become the first Monegasque driver to race on home soil since 1994 on Sunday.

- Haas had a day to forget as Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen qualified 15th and 19th respectively, with the team saying it is chiefly down to the unique nature of the Monaco layout.

- Grosjean will drop to 18th on the grid as a result of his three-place grid penalty carried over from the Spanish Grand Prix, while Verstappen has been given permission to start by the stewards despite not setting a time in qualifying.

- The only other stewards incident of note came in Q1 when Valtteri Bottas was picked up for a possible block on Kimi Raikkonen, only for them to decide to take no further action.