Charles Leclerc is out to make it back-to-back pole positions around his home circuit for Ferrari today as he looks to wrestle back the Formula One world championship lead.
Max Verstappen’s victory in Barcelona a week ago came after his title rival’s engine failure and Leclerc is not known for his luck around the streets of the principality.
In two F2 and three F1 races here, he has never seen the chequered flag with a crash late in qualifying last year meaning he could not even take up his pole position to start the race.
A dominant performance from Ferrari in Friday’s second practice session bit back after Verstappen was quickest in FP1, but that will all be meaningless if they fail to turn it on when it counts.
One team unlikely to make themselves heard at the top of the grid are Mercedes, following a difficult start to the weekend for Lewis Hamilton and George Russell despite a promising Spanish Grand Prix.
Qualifying around the tight, twisty streets of Monaco is notoriously the most pivotal of the year given the difficulty in overtaking cars during the race.
So expect drivers to leave it all out on the track, providing plenty of thrills and almost certainly some spills this afternoon.
Keep up to date with all the track action from the streets of Monte Carlo with Standard Sport’s LIVE blog…
Live updates
Weather update
Glorious sunshine is currently bathing the track ahead of the session.
Temperatures are sat at around 29ºC with very low chances of rain today – although the same cannot be said for the race..!
How to watch
TV channel: Today’s session will be shown live on Sky Sports F1 and Main Event, with coverage beginning at 2pm before qualifying begins at 3pm BST.
Live stream: Sky Sports subscribers can also tune in online via the Sky Go app.
Free highlights: Channel 4 will be airing full free-to-air race highlights at 10pm this evening.
Good afternoon!
Welcome to Standard Sport’s coverage of qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix!
Not only is this the race with the most iconic glitz and glamour of arguably the globe’s entire sporting calendar, it is also Formula One’s most pivotal qualifying session of the year.
Join us for all the build-up, track action and reaction this Saturday afternoon.