LIVE: Monaco Grand Prix - Qualifying

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Follow F1i's live, as-it-happens coverage of qualifying for the 2016 Monaco Grand Prix!

The historic Monaco street circuit is notoriously tight and twisty, making it one of the hardest circuits of the entire year to pass on. That puts a premium on starting position here for anyone who wants to do well, and makes today's qualifying session one of the most crucial of the entire season.

LIVE: Monaco Grand Prix - Qualifying

We really don't yet know who is the favourite to start on pole position this weekend. Normally it would be easy to point at Mercedes - Nico Rosberg has won the last three races here, after all - but the Silver Arrows appear under some considerable pressure this weekend and might not have the same sort of edge over the competition that they've enjoyed up to now in 2017 when it comes to locking out the front row of the grid.

Daniel Ricciardo certainly rang the alarm bells when his Red Bull went a whopping six tenths of a second faster than Lewis Hamilton on Thursday, a challenge that Mercedes didn't sound at all confident of being able to respond to successfully. Ricciardo was only fourth fastest in this morning's FP3 session but then he never had the chance to put in the perfect lap amid the traffic and numerous yellow flags. We'll have to find out this afternoon what he can really do when it comes to the crunch.

Sebastian Vettel had a pretty ragged time of it on Thursday - he spun at Mirabeau and then hit the barrier at Ste Devote in an eventful FP3 session - but the Ferrari driver rebounded from that to set the fastest time of Saturday morning which means that he too is very much a threat to Rosberg and Hamilton in qualifying today.

Perhaps the biggest threat to everyone right through the field is the likelihood of making a mistake. A foray into the run-off areas or a thumping encounter with the barriers could ruin any driver's qualifying session. We've already seen Felipe Massa, Jolyon Palmer, Rio Haryanto and Kevin Magnussen in the wars so far, not to mention Jenson Button's front wing being clobbered by a flying drain cover at the end of FP1. Even wonderboy Max Verstappen ended up in trouble on Saturday morning, although Red Bull have got his car checked out and ready to roll in time for qualifying.

It's all scheduled to get underway at 2pm local time (1pm BST), and F1i will be right here bringing you all the latest news and information from trackside on F1i's live page the minute that the action gets underway. Don't miss a second!

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.