Qualifying - Monaco GP report: Mercedes

Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton qualified in first and second places respectively for the Monaco Grand Prix today.

— Today´s result gives the team our six straight pole position of the season and the third front row lockout
— Nico claimed his second pole of the season, qualifying just ahead of Lewis in second place
— Nico´s sixth Formula One pole sees him overtake his father, Keke, who achieved five career poles
— This marks the 23rd pole position for the Silver Arrows in Formula One

Nico Rosberg

I´ve felt really good in the car for the whole weekend and to get pole again here in Monaco is fantastic. The team has done a great job again this weekend because our performance is so strong even on this unique circuit - which shows that we have developed a really strong chassis and engine package for this season. I did a really great banker lap at the beginning in Q3 but Lewis was very close, so I gave it another try and pushed a bit more, unfortunately just a bit too much over the limit. I locked up the rears and then the fronts offline at the bumpy downhill part of the track before turn five but I just managed to get down the escape road. I have apologised to Lewis for having hindered the opportunity for him to improve his lap time. Now I will look ahead and forward to the race. I need to have a good start and I hope for a strong race with a good strategy.

Lewis Hamilton

I´d had a good weekend so far and I´ve just been concentrating on my own performance and working on the pace one step at a time. Qualifying was going well today but in hindsight, I should have nailed my best lap before the end of Q3. This is Monaco and there is always the risk of yellow flags here. Of course, I´m extremely disappointed that I didn´t get to finish my lap as I was a couple of tenths up. That´s motorsport. I have to get the best possible start and then see what we can do from there.

Toto Wolff

That was a thrilling qualifying session. We had two drivers fighting right on the edge for every thousandth of a second and that´s when mistakes happen, as they did today for Nico. It was an incredible fight between Nico and Lewis and, from the team´s perspective, it´s fantastic to have locked out the front row at the track where qualifying matters most. But we have a hard race ahead of us tomorrow and it´s one of the most demanding on the calendar. There is still a long way to go.

Paddy Lowe

It was a very close qualifying session and, as usual, the problem around Monaco is getting clean laps with the tyres in the right condition, and without causing obstructions to other cars. That makes it the most intense qualifying session of the year. The team did a fantastic job this afternoon, managing a faultless set of laps with both cars and progressing comfortably through each stage of qualifying, while an extremely close battle was unfolding between Lewis and Nico, as we saw. Unfortunately, this ended with Nico going along at Mirabeau. From a team perspective, it´s a great result to get both cars on the front row at Monaco, and a real encouragement to see that the W05 Hybrid is also strong at this circuit, which presents completely different challenges to any other.