Leclerc grabs pole as red flags bring chaotic end to Monaco qualifying

Charles Leclerc will start the Monaco Grand Prix from the front of the pack after claiming pole position in a session that ended under red flags.

In the dying moments of the session, Sergio Perez went into the barriers just before the entrance to the tunnel. A matter of seconds later, Carlos Sainz suffered a near-identical spin into the same corner, and promptly hit the Red Bull.

The two cars consequently blocked the track, causing a queue to build up of those waiting to get back to the pits.

Despite this, Sainz still secured P2, while Perez will start from third and Max Verstappen lines up alongside him in fourth.

Lando Norris clinched fifth, with George Russell in sixth and Fernando Alonso seventh. Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Esteban Ocon complete the top 10.

Joy for Vettel in Q2, disappointment for Ricciardo

Perez continued to show the promise he had displayed in FP3 as Q2 got underway, with the Mexican ahead of teammate Verstappen after the first round of laps.

Leclerc faced some brief disruption after being called to the weighbridge with around five minutes to spare. The Ferrari missed the box, meaning that his team had to push him back to it.

Elsewhere, Hamilton seemed to be wrestling with his Mercedes at times, and abandoned one of his flying laps after narrowly avoiding a brush with the barriers at the entrance of the tunnel.

Vettel managed to put his Aston Martin into Q3 with a strong lap in the dying minutes, and sounded thrilled on the radio thanks to claiming P8 on the timesheets.

Someone who wasn't having such a good time was Daniel Ricciardo. After a crash ended his FP2 running early on Friday, the Australian had another tough day in qualifying. He exited at the end of Q2, and will line up in P14 on the grid.

Yuki Tsunoda (P11), Valtteri Bottas (P12), Kevin Magnussen (P13) and Mick Schumacher (P15) were the other names to be eliminated.

Pressure on in Q1 after red flag

Leclerc was the first man to break into the 1:12s in Q1 as he set the early pace in the session.

After the first runs, Bottas found himself in the bottom five, potentially ruining his hopes of a strong result in Monaco. The Finn had been struggling with traffic, but soon put himself out of danger.

A red flag was called after Tsunoda made contact with the barriers, meaning that the pressure was on for those in the elimination zone to set a lap when the session resumed with only a few minutes to spare.

As the clock ticked down, Ocon was amongst those to impress, putting himself up into P4.

One of the most surprising names to exit Q1, though, was Ocon's countryman Pierre Gasly, who had a strong Free Practice 3 session and has often performed well in Monte Carlo. The AlphaTauri man failed to cross the line in time by the smallest of margins.

The other unlucky drivers to miss out on progressing to Q2 were Alex Albon (P16), Lance Stroll (P18), Nicholas Latifi (P19) and Zhou Guanyu (P20).