Jolyon Palmer extended his championship lead by taking the four points for pole position in three races in Monaco. The young Briton was fastest in the first part of the session, and when the second session was slower, he took top spot. Rio Haryanto would have started alongside the DAMS driver in his EQ8 Caterham Racing machine having been fastest in the second session, but was hit with a three place grid drop penalty for blocking relegating him to fifth.
With the tight and twisty nature of the Monaco street circuit, qualifying was split into two sixteen-minute sessions, with odd numbered cars competing in the first session and the even numbered cars in the second. Ultimately, Palmer was the fastest overall, which meant that the drivers in the first session would take the odd numbered grid slots for tomorrow’s feature race.
Mitch Evans was second fastest in Group A and therefore would have started from third in the leading Russian Time entrant but will start second, while Johnny Cecotto Jr in the Trident Racing entrant was third quickest in Group A and will now start fourth. Daniel Abt will start tenth for Hilmer Motorsport after also picking up a three-place penalty, while Raffaele Marciello will start eighth for Racing Engineering.
Stephane Richelmi in the second DAMS machine will start third after being second fastest in Group B, while third fastest Stoffel Vandoorne will start sixth in the leading ART Grand Prix machine. Stefano Coletti will start seventh for Racing Engineering, while Julian Leal will start ninth for Carlin.
It was another disappointing session for Alexander Rossi who will start from eleventh, while Spain Sprint race winner Felipe Nasr will start down in 18th after crashing during morning practice and becoming another driver to incur a three place penalty for blocking during qualifying.
Another driver who crashed in the practice session was Nathanael Berthon, and the Venezuela GP Lazarus driver only just made it into the race after a last lap effort qualified him under the 107% rule. Artem Markelov will have to start the race from the pit lane in his Russian Time car after the five place grid drop penalty he incurred in Barcelona could not be enforced due to him qualifying last.
Monaco Qualifying Times
POS | DRIVER | NAT | TEAM | TIME | GROUP |
1 | Jolyon Palmer | GBR | DAMS | 1:20.774 | A |
2 | Mitch Evans | NZL | RT Russian Time | 1:21.188 | A |
3 | Stephane Richelmi | MON | DAMS | 1:21.444 | B |
4 | Johnny Cecotto Jr | VEN | Trident Racing | 1:21.361 | A |
5* | Rio Haryanto | INO | EQ8 Caterham Racing | 1:21.433 | B |
6 | Stoffel Vandoorne | BEL | ART Grand Prix | 1:21.508 | B |
7 | Stefano Coletti | MON | Racing Engineering | 1:21.649 | B |
8 | Raffaele Marciello | ESP | Racing Engineering | 1:21.917 | A |
9 | Julian Leal | COL | Carlin | 1:21.752 | B |
10* | Daniel Abt | GER | Hilmer Motorsport | 1:21.760 | A |
11 | Alexander Rossi | USA | EQ8 Caterham Racing | 1:22.146 | A |
12 | Sergio Canamasas | ESP | Trident Racing | 1:21.926 | B |
13 | Simon Trummer | SWI | Rapax | 1:22.296 | A |
14 | Arthur Pic | FRA | Campos Racing | 1:22.207 | B |
15 | Rene Binder | AUT | Arden International | 1:22.270 | B |
16 | Kimiya Sato | JAP | Campos Racing | 1:22.588 | A |
17 | Adrian Quaife-Hobbs | GBR | Rapax | 1:22.277 | B |
18* | Felipe Nasr | BRZ | Carlin | 1:22.381 | A |
19 | Tio Ellinas | CYP | MP Motorsport | 1:22.681 | A |
20 | Conor Daly | USA | Venezuela GP Lazarus | 1:22.997 | A |
21 | Daniel de Jong | NED | MP Motorsport | 1:22.488 | B |
22 | Andre Negrao | BRZ | Arden International | 1:23.178 | A |
23* | Facu Regalia | ARG | Hilmer Motorsport | 1:22.473 | B |
24 | Nathanael Berthon | FRA | Venezuela GP Lazarus | 1:22.632 | B |
25 | Takuya Izawa | JAP | ART Grand Prix | 1:23.259 | A |
26** | Artem Markelov | RUS | RT Russian Time | 1:23.347 | B |
*Three Place Grid Drop Penalty Imposed For Blocking
**Will Start from Pit Lane due to Barcelona Penalty |