Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Monaco

The big story of qualifying was obviously Charles Leclerc, in a Ferrari, being knocked out in first qualifying, at his home grand prix, because of a miscalculation by the team. Basically, the engineers’ data for what is predicted to be the cut-off time - the lap time needed to go through - said he would be safe. Leclerc questioned it.

But in a classic example of F1-style ‘computer says no’ they believed the data, rather than common sense. In the bitterest of ironies, it was his team-mate Sebastian Vettel - who was sent out for another run - who dealt the final blow.

It was a terrible error, but the root cause of it was, as Vettel said, the lack of pace of both cars on their first runs - Leclerc was sixth quickest, but 0.3secs slower than Kevin Magnussen’s Haas. Which you would have thought would have been enough to ring alarm bells, but clearly wasn’t.

Vettel said: “We had to fit a second set of tyres because we were not quick enough with the first one. That is the real problem. The track ramped up more than expect and we got caught out but being half a second faster on the first run, you don’t get caught out.”

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Jeremiah Kariuki: Daniel Ricciardo's celebration last year after bring a limping car back to the chequered flag is a memory of not long ago. It is possibly one even Ricciardo would wish to relive if he we were to finish in the top 5!

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BBC Radio 5 Live

We are live on BBC Radio 5 Live with our commentary team of Jack Nicholls, Jolyon Palmer and Jennie Gow so listen to all the build-up by pressing the play button at the top.

Every driver on the grid today is wearing a red cap in honour of three-time world champion Niki Lauda, who passed away on Monday.

Lauda celebrated back-to-back pole positions and race wins in Monaco between 1975 and 1976.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Mercedes' cars have been sporting a red halo in honour of Lauda.

Here are some of the tributes from the Formula 1 world to Niki Lauda. Feel free to tweet us your memories of Niki Lauda as well by using the hashtag #bbcf1

It's been a terribly sad week for Formula 1 with the death of three-time world champion Niki Lauda on Monday and Lewis Hamilton dedicated his pole position yesterday to Lauda.

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This is the most iconic race of the season and we want you to tell us your best memories from previous races here.

Tweet us using #bbcf1, if you have pictures as well then send them to us and we'll throw them in this page before we get going at 14:10 BST.

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Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Monaco

It’s been raining in Monaco this morning, but only lightly. The forecast is for an 20% chance of rain. Pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton says he wants it dry, even though he is generally magic in the wet. “Ultimately, when you’re on pole, you hope it will be just smooth sailing, a dry, (non)-safety car kind of day,” Hamilton said.

“The tyres that we have, it’s a one-stop race generally, it has been for a long time here, so it’s really just about keeping calm, cool and collected and just delivering on what we’ve practised throughout the weekend. But you know, this race – as you’ve seen in the previous years – lots of things get thrown at you so we’ve just got to stay on our toes.

"But I honestly feel that we're the best prepared, we’ve had a really solid weekend of preparation. We’ve had good years of experience, too, but that doesn’t mean that there are unknowns ahead but we’ll face it together.”

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So after those penalties to Pierre Gasly and Antonio Giovinazzi we should be starting like this, as long as there are no late penalties.

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Two drivers received penalties after qualifying. Pierre Gasly had got himself fifth, but had a three-place penalty for impeding Romain Grosjean and Antonio Giovinazzi got a similar penalty for blocking Nico Hulkenberg.

Watch how Lewis Hamilton secured the 85th pole position of his career.

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Monaco

Image source, Getty Images

Lewis Hamilton snatched Monaco Grand Prix pole position from Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas with his last lap of the session.

Hamilton, often on the back foot in qualifying, took pole by 0.086 seconds.

But the story of the day was in many ways Ferrari's strategic error that saw Charles Leclerc knocked out in the first session.

Ferrari elected not to send Leclerc out for a second run, and the Monegasque will start 16th for his home race.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen was third, ahead of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, who was the man who knocked out Leclerc.

First up, a quick recap of qualifying.

Welcome along to BBC Sport's coverage of the Monaco Grand Prix - the most iconic race of the season.

We have potential stories everywhere you look. A tasty team-mate versus team-mate battle right at the front, Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel looking to take advantage of any Mercedes slip-up just behind and Charles Leclerc looking to weave his way through the field from 15th.

Let's hope it is a thrilling race.

Yesterday morning and things looked promising for Ferrari with Charles Leclerc fastest in third practice.

A few hours later and Ferrari had self-destructed. A botched tactical call left Leclerc, in his home race weekend, stranded in the garage and bumped out of qualifying in Q1.

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Mercedes then did what Mercedes do and took control of the front row with some Lewis Hamilton magic snatching pole position away from Valtteri Bottas.

Can Mercedes finish one-two for the sixth time in the season and pay a fitting tribute to Niki Lauda? What can Ferrari do? Can Max Verstappen upset the odds and take his first Monaco win? Let's find out.

Image source, Getty Images