Lando Norris snatched pole from local hero Charles Leclerc on a dramatic final lap of qualifying in Monaco. The McLaren star needs to claw back the gap to team-mate and Drivers' Championship leader, Oscar Piastri, and he will have a golden opportunity to put maximum points on the board tomorrow (Sunday).

Securing the optimal grid slot is always crucial in Monaco, where overtaking is nigh on impossible around a narrow circuit. Norris therefore holds a major advantage ahead of Monegasque star Leclerc in second and Piastri in third.

Q1 was abruptly interrupted towards the end of the session when Kimi Antonelli clipped a barrier going into the Nouvelle Chicane. That was to be the end of the Italian's afternoon, and that of the five drivers battling to climb out of the drop zone, as red flags were waved and the session was abandoned.

Minutes later it became a double dose of Mercedes pain, with George Russell losing power up the hill and freewheeling his way to the tunnel, where his car ground to a halt in Q2. He and Antonelli will have plenty of work to do on Sunday. Red Bull man Yuki Tsunoda won't have been too pleased either, as he failed to join team-mate Max Verstappen in Q3 despite both of the Racing Bulls stars making it through.

And in the final session, Norris had the final say when it looked as though Leclerc would head up the pack on home soil.