Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 Live

Image source, Getty Images

In the dry this place is crazy, but in the wet you just get random things happening.

I crashed because I went over a zebra crossing that was randomly slippery. I had never driven over a zebra crossing at full tilt in the wet before in a racing car. I discovered it and hit the wall.

These things happen around Monaco because it is a street circuit.

As confusion swirled around the Perez and Sainz collision, there was a brief camera shot of an Alpine looking less than pristine a few corners back.

It was Fernando Alonso, who had busted up the front of his car at Mirabeau and as a result, slipped to seventh in the pecking order.

"A big apology for my mistake in q3 to the team of which I am not at all proud," Alonso wrote on Instagram.

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Monaco

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Lando Norris has been through the mill this week, after racing in Barcelona last weekend with tonsillitis. So fifth on the grid in the McLaren is an impressive achievement. "It's been a long week,” he said. “Just because of suffering the amount I did last week with the tonsillitis and fever and everything. And then racing with it just made it even worse than it ever needed to be. But it was something that had to be done, and I was so happy with with doing it. It just took a big toll on me physically, so I was struggling a lot Sunday night. I did everything I could possibly do, literally talking to no one, and whatever. I'm recovering.

“Throat-wise, I'm in a much better place, I can eat and drink now, which is already a good start - something I couldn't do last week.

"I didn't sleep at all last last week, so just catching up on that, it's not something which you can just catch up on in a couple of days. It takes time.

“I know I'm not 100% now. You can probably tell by how red my face is, there's a few things I'm still struggling with. But it's much better, I'm more confident that when I get in the car, I'm on top of things, rather than being almost a passenger. But this is tough, because I know especially here in Monaco, you need to be on top of everything. And it's where you want to be physically 100%. I know I'm quite a way off that still, even though I feel like I can do a good job.”

Team-mate Daniel Ricciardo is having a bit of a nightmare at the moment and was a long way off in 14th place, admitting he was still not comfortable in the car. His plight is mystifying everyone.

While the late red flag hindered some drivers, others were more fortunate in qualifying.

Lando Norris, who has been sick as a dog since the Spanish Grand Prix with tonsillitis, pulled a terrific lap out of his McLaren back pocket just before the session was closed off and will take his place in fifth.

Norris was only 0.248secs slower than fourth-placed Verstappen.

"The car has been feeling very good all weekend," said the 22-year-old. "I've been comfortable in it.

"I've had confidence to do the laps when I have needed to. I've been happy, but just a shame we missed out on that little bit extra."

Jack Nicholls
BBC Radio 5 Live F1 commentator

Ferrari have won just once here [at Monaco] in the last 20 years. Just Sebastian Vettel in 2017 is the only win here [for Ferrari] since Michael Schumacher in 2001. Is that mad?

There is a mistral coming in. The winds are changing. A bit of rain will make this race really fascinating.

Lewis Hamilton is in eighth, but you can never rule him out when it rains.

Ah, Max has mentioned the 'W' word.

It looked likely to be a soggy Sunday in Monaco in the build-up to the grand prix but the risk of rain seems to have decreased for today's race.

Here's what our BBC weatherman Ian Fergusson can tell us: "A few showers now possible in wider area but risk looks muted, so current FIA guidance is 40% risk for race (arguably on high side); *mostly* over uplands to N/NE."

This is the second time this season Verstappen has started in fourth place on the grid.

At the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix in March, the Dutchman was in the same spot on the second row and ended the day as race winner after an intense scrap with Charles Leclerc.

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Monaco

Image source, Getty Images

So far, this has not been Max Verstappen’s weekend. He has been struggling all weekend to match the pace of team-mate Sergio Perez, and when it looked right at the end of qualifying as if Verstappen might finally have found a way to get the front tyre grip he needed into Turn One and would improve, perhaps go second, Perez crashed at Portier.

“I just didn't have enough grip the whole time, at the front. And here in Monaco it is very important that the car turns very quickly and I didn't have that. And then you just lose a lot of time.”

Verstappen repeated his opinion expressed last year that drivers who crash in final qualifying and cause a red flag should face some kind of penalty.

“It is irritating and a pity of course that the one who put it in the wall was my team-mate,” he said. “But in the end you don't get a penalty for that. So if you know you have a good first run, then you can think: ‘Ah well, you know what, I'll park it and tactically send it into the wall.’ You could do that.”Why was he struggling to match Perez? “I didn't have a good balance in the car, so then you can’t attack the corners. In the end, we adjusted the car for qualifying and then it was fine again. In that last run it was just much better. But he was also just feeling a bit more comfortable, he had the balance more how he wanted it. He can drive with a bit more understeer.”Even if it’s wet, Verstappen is not optimistic for the race. "You can't follow very well with these cars here,” he said. "Everything gets overheated as well. So yeah, difficult.”

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The winner of the last three races and now leader the drivers' championship, Max Verstappen, couldn't quite find the pace to match the standards of rival Charles Leclerc in qualifying.

He had banked his best first sector in the Red Bull to give himself a chance of claiming a front-row spot alongside Leclerc, but that mess at Portier thwarted any hope of jumping up the grid.

"I was up on my lap and all feeling good," said Verstappen. "But then, of course, I saw the road block at Turn 8.

"It's unlucky but it's Monaco. We just have to deal with it and accept it and move from there."

Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 Live

It felt like Charles Leclerc had it - from quite early on in qualifying [I was questioning] can anyone beat him?

Sergio Perez was good in practicing but didn't quite have that pace in qualifying and Carlos Sainz was just a little bit adrift.

So it felt like Leclerc had the edge but you never know if it is going to be like last year when he stuck it into the wall.

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Ferrari have made a precautionary gearbox change on Carlos Sainz's car, which thankfully for the Spaniard, is a penalty-free update.

Over at Red Bull, Sergio Perez also has a new gearbox, among other parts, and again, won't be hit with a grid penalty.

Checo has still managed to dress to impress this weekend.

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Here are some more thoughts from Sergio Perez: "It was just a mess, that Q3 lap, with people not respecting the deltas and I just ended up too cold.

"Everyone was backing out in the final sector so the tyres were too cold and I nearly lost it into Turn 1. I thought the tyres were going ti pick up some temperature through the lap but it was just not there.

"I tried too much on that lap."

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Saturday had started brightly for Sergio Perez, with the Red Bull man topping final practice and looking the most likely driver to challenge Charles Leclerc for Monaco glory.

In the dying moments in the fight for pole, however, a red flag was waved for the bull as the rear of the Mexican's car slammed into the barriers.

Perez will line up third on the grid alongside team-mate Max Verstappen, who starts fourth.

"I’m very sorry it ended up this way," he tweeted. "My boys will have a long night. But I hope to pay them back tomorrow with a great race."

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A lonely figure was Carlos Sainz, sitting on the barrier, watching is damaged Ferrari get taken away.

Here's what he had to say about the Q3 incident: "I was really, really late until I had the chance to see. The yellow flag is really far left and you are looking right to the apex.

"It's a shame because two years in a row this happens but at the same time, it's a decent position to start and it's a good day for the team."

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Just like at the Miami Grand Prix earlier this month, Carlos Sainz will join his Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc on the front row of the grid.

Unlike Miami, however, the Spaniard didn't get to fist bump with his pal in acknowledgment of their qualifying lockout, as a tangle with Sergio Perez after the Red Bull had crashed into the barriers at Portier scuppered any celebrations.

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Monaco

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Can Charles Leclerc finally break his hometown hoodoo? The Ferrari driver has never even finished a race in the place he was born, even right back to the junior categories. Last year, having taken pole and then crashed at the end of qualifying, his car broke down on the way to the grid. This year, his performance on Saturday was even better, and the red flag at the end of qualifying caused by Sergio Perez looked like it had deprived him and those watching of one of the great Monaco laps - already more than 0.2secs clear, Leclerc was 0.4secs up on his own time before reaching Tabac and with no one looking like they would even beat his first effort, when the rad flag flew.

Now, with team-mate Carlos Sainz alongside him on the front row, the race is Ferrari’s to lose, wet or dry. “Race pace was good (on Friday,” he said. “We only did, like, three or four laps, but it looks good. So hopefully it will be the case. There's a bit of a chance of rain too. But yeah, that's fine. We were strong in the rain in Imola, so whatever comes we'll try to make the best out of it and finally have a good result at home.”