Max Verstappen owned up to a mistake in Q3 that forced the Red Bull charger to abort his first flyer in the segment, but a late red flag in the session sealed his fate.
Verstappen predictably topped both Q1 and Q2, and Q3 looked like a mere formality for the Dutchman.
However, a few hairy moments in the first sector on his first hot lap, including a moment when he ran wide at Turn 5, compelled the Red Bull driver to abandon his lap and retreat to the pits.
There, Verstappen and his crews regrouped before he returned to the track.
But a red flag displayed for Charles Leclerc's stricken Ferrari after the Monegasque lost it, again, at Turn 7 and veered off course and into the wall, brought the session to a premature halt.
With no opportunity to put in a second flyer, Verstappen was left stranded in a lowly ninth place while his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez will start Sunday's race from pole, with Fernando Alonso sharing the front row.
Verstappen vowed to push forward in the race but admitted that he had unnecessarily "made it difficult" for himself.
"That was definitely a mistake of mine trying to put it on the limit, and then I made a mistake and had to abort the lap," Verstappen explained after the qualifying.
"Then you rely on a bit of luck that there is not going to be a red flag, but it can happen on the street circuit. So, I'm just a bit upset with myself.
"I mean, it's going to be tough. I've made it difficult for myself."
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner suggested that the gusty wind around the track that was picking up may have been a contributing factor for the mistakes of both Leclerc and Verstappen.
"They were all struggling, the wind was getting up and whether that was what caught Max and Charles out, I don't know," he said.
"But it was getting tricky, he [Perez] navigated a good lap and got the pole which was well deserved."
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