Lewis Hamilton secured his first ever pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix as errors from Nico Rosberg saw his challenge fade.
With Hamilton already fastest after the first runs in Q3, Rosberg then locked up in to Ste Devote - the second time in the session he had done so - and lost too much time, aborting his lap and leaving Hamilton to improve to a 1:15.098. Rosberg ended up almost 0.4s adrift of his team-mate, while Sebastian Vettel was a similar distance back in third.
Vettel's hopes were hurt by poor track position at the start of his final run, with Max Verstappen directly ahead of him on the road and not enough gap between the two cars. Vettel will start alongside his old team-mate Daniel Ricciardo after an improved performance from Red Bull saw both cars qualify fourth and fifth.
With Kvyat pipping Kimi Raikkonen on his final lap, the Finn will start sixth ahead of the impressive Sergio Perez, Carlos Sainz, Pastor Maldonado and Max Verstappen.
The second part of qualifying was painful for McLaren as Fernando Alonso stopped on track before setting a representative time, briefly bringing out yellow flags. With one car already out, McLaren looked set to make it through to Q3 with Jenson Button but another yellow flag at the start of his lap - caused by Rosberg running off at Ste Devote - cost him time. Despite improving in the final two sectors, Button missed out on a spot inside the top ten by 0.1s and radioed the team to say: "That's painful!"
Also dropping out in Q2 was Romain Grosjean, who was just 0.008s away from tenth place. Nico Hulkenberg and Felipe Massa - in 13th and 14th respectively - joined Grosjean and the two McLarens in failing to make it through to the final part of the session.
Q1 saw a surprise as Valtteri Bottas dropped out in the Williams after struggling all weekend. A late lap was not good enough to get him through and he then backed off before pitting as he ran out of time for a final attempt.
Bottas was sandwiched by the two Sauber drivers, with Felipe Nasr outqualifying the Williams and Marcus Ericsson dropping out in 18th place. The back row will be filled by the two Manor cars, with Will Stevens beating team-mate Roberto Merhi by 0.2s.
Click here for a look at the technical updates brought by all the teams at the start of the European season
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| Pos | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:16.528 | 1:15.471 | 1:15.098 |
| 02 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:16.588 | 1:15.864 | 1:15.440 |
| 03 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:17.502 | 1:16.181 | 1:15.849 |
| 04 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:17.254 | 1:16.706 | 1:16.041 |
| 05 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull | 1:16.845 | 1:16.453 | 1:16.182 |
| 06 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:17.660 | 1:16.440 | 1:16.427 |
| 07 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:17.376 | 1:16.999 | 1:16.808 |
| 08 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:17.246 | 1:16.762 | 1:16.931 |
| 09 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 1:17.630 | 1:16.775 | 1:16.946 |
| 10 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:16.750 | 1:16.546 | 1:16.957 |
| 11 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 1:17.767 | 1:17.007 | |
| 12 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:17.492 | 1:17.093 | |
| 13 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:17.552 | 1:17.193 | |
| 14 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:17.679 | 1:17.278 | |
| 15 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1:17.778 | 1:26.632 | |
| 16 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 1:18.101 | ||
| 17 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:18.434 | ||
| 18 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1:18.513 | ||
| 19 | Will Stevens | Manor | 1:20.655 | ||
| 20 | Roberto Merhi | Manor | 1:20.904 |
