While the races are often quite boring at Monaco, qualifying is often a nail biter and it was a very enjoyable qualifying session today. Excitement and surprise in each session and a genuine uncertainty of what will happen. Ever lap filled with a risk of disaster. My only complaint has to be the Director that controls the camera feeds. Someone needs to fire that guy (or gal). How many times did we need to see a Mercedes onboard during a cool down lap or warm up lap? We want to see the timed laps!

Forza Ferrari. It's been a long time and while they have looked very very strong all weekend, I still doubted their true outright pace. As it turns out the car was genuinely quick. Perhaps pole was not in the cards if the session finished under green flags, but I never did hear if Leclerc or Sainz was improving their times just as Max and Bottas was. Charles Leclerc is sensationally fast however he sometimes makes small errors that lead to huge crashes. Fortunately he keeps his pole, IF the car does not require a gearbox change. Carlos did fantastic too, brilliant job by both drivers. I am disgusted by Ted Kravitz, as during his interview with Toto Wolff he implied that Charles/Ferrari crashed on purpose. Who in their right mind would assume that was done deliberately? A podium is definitely realistic for Ferrari.

At Red Bull, Max Verstappen probably had pole if it wasn't for the red flag. Should still be the faster car during the race, and with a slick strategy could very likely jump into 1st place. Or he inherits pole position if Leclerc receives a penalty, in which he could dominate the race. Perez, pretty awful day. He did get massive traffic at the end of his fast lap, but he had more than one chance to put a good time on the board and was no where close to Max. One of the worst performances of the day. I don't expect Perez to do very well in the race.

Mercedes really seem to be struggling a bit. Monaco has never been their strongest track and that appears to be showing again this weekend. Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly?) Bottas looked to have a shot at pole as his final lap was ahead of Leclerc's as well. Hamilton however had one of his worst performances. It will be interesting to see how they advance in the race as every race where Hamilton gets behind, his car transforms into a super Mercedes.

McLaren had a high and a low. Lando Norris again shined bright, just .044 behind 2nd place Max's time. Daniel Ricciardo unfortunately has not looked comfortable in the car at all. I'm not sure Lando will be able to move forward, but Ricciardo should be able to advance with the car he has.

AlphaTauri has Gasly rockin in qualifying again. Tsunoda starting to worry. His times aren't horribly far from Gasly, but it often means 8-10 places behind Gasly on the grid. Not good enough. Gasly should be fighting for points, Tsunoda more likely to DNF.

Aston Martin looks okay. Vettel showing he can still master Monaco. Hopefully the team can play the strategy to keep him in the points. I worry they will keep Vettel on worn tires too long, holding up traffic if it favors Stroll.

Alfa Romeo has looked very good at Monaco. Kimi Raikkonen has been strong, which is no surprise as he has always been fast around Monte Carlo. However Giovinazzi might be driver of the day. Top 10, very impressive. If there is ever a chance for points, Sunday will be the day.

Alpine again shows how inconsistent their car is. It's so hit and miss. Ocon managed to get a decent lap in, but I do not expect him to really challenge for points in the race. Alonso was abysmal, one of the worst performances in qualifying.

Williams looking slow everywhere. The good power they have from the Mercedes isn't worth that much at Monaco. It shows how poor the chassis still is. Russell always ahead of Latifi. Just finishing the race would be the goal for the race.

Haas at the back, no surprise there. The big surprise is going into Monaco, we all expected Mazepin to have gone through 2 chassis' by now. Instead he's kept it off the wall and Schumacher has had multiple crashes. All eyes will be on both drivers to see how badly they hold up traffic while being lapped, and if they don't destroy their cars. Sounds exciting.