FACTS AND STATS: A first front row start in Monaco for Alonso in 16 years

Max Verstappen pulled an incredible lap out of the bag late on in qualifying to grab pole position, but there were contrasting fortunes at Red Bull with Sergio Perez qualifying down the other end of the grid. In between there were plenty of highs and lows, so here are the best facts and stats from a frenetic qualifying in the Principality…

• Max Verstappen took his first-ever pole in Monaco.

• The Dutchman took his 23rd career pole from Fernando Alonso, had the Spaniard held on it would have been his 23rd pole as well.

• The gap between those two was 0.084s, the closest front row gap so far this season.

• This will be Alonso’s first front row start in Monaco since 2007.

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• In the last seven races here, the driver starting second has won more often than the driver starting first (three wins to two)

• This is the second time that Verstappen and Alonso are sharing the front row.

• It’s the first front row start for Aston Martin or their previous iterations in Monaco since Jarno Trulli was second on the grid driving a Jordan in 2000.

• Charles Leclerc was third – not on pole, but then again he has failed to win from his last eight starts from pole, the longest streak since Nelson Piquet’s 10 in a row from 1984-87.

• The last three wet Monaco Grands Prix have been won from third on the grid.

• Nobody has won here from outside the top three on the grid since 1996, when Olivier Panis won from 14th.

• Esteban Ocon qualified fourth, his first ever top four start for the Enstone Renault/Alpine team in his 67th start for them.

• The gap to pole was 0.188s for Ocon.

• Carlos Sainz was fifth, he has started fourth or fifth in five of the six races this season.

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• Lewis Hamilton qualified sixth, and he finished in the position he started at the last four races here.

• Pierre Gasly qualified seventh, for consecutive top seven starts in 2023.

• George Russell was eighth, having been out-qualified by Hamilton for just the second time this season.

• Yuki Tsunoda qualified ninth, in his first ever Q3 appearance in Monaco.

• Lando Norris was P10, in his second Q3 appearance of the year after Baku.

• Oscar Piastri missed Q3 by just 0.018s.

• Nyck de Vries qualified 12th, his best qualifying performance of the year.

• Alex Albon was 13th, his team’s best position in Monaco since Sergey Sirotkin was 13th in 2018.

• Lance Stroll has never reached Q3 in six attempts in Monaco.

• In their 150th Grand Prix, both Haas cars were out in Q1 for the second time in the last three races.

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• Zhou Guanyu suffered his third Q1 elimination in the last four races.

• Sergio Perez crashed in qualifying here for the third time and the second year in a row.

• The Mexican finished fifth from last on the grid in Australia this year.

• His team mate finished ninth from last on the grid in the race here in 2018.