This was a bad qualifying performance by any measure and when the yard stick is a three times world champion it’s difficult to understand just how and why Lewis Hamilton faltered around the fabled streets of Monaco. Fail he did and by his own high standards this was his most miserable qualifying display. Hamilton struggled to fine tune his setup as he slid and over-steered around Monaco. Meanwhile his team mate, someone whom Hamilton respects but most probably doesn’t rate, put in a more brazened display.

Hamilton’s final and last chance to wing it into Q3 was crushed by Stoffel Vandoorne who crashed his McLaren into the barriers in the dying seconds of Q2. The yellow flags were raised and Hamilton’s hopes lowered instantly.

Team mate Valtteri Bottas fared much better but could only muster his Mercedes to third albeit a few thousands of a second behind Vettel as Kimi Raikkonen stole the qualifying show but he himself was ultimately outshone by Hamilton’s failure to get into Q3.

The veteran Ferrari driver looks as though he has lost none of his speed, the 37 year old looked like an immovable object throughout qualifying. Vettel tried but failed, Bottas looked sharp but just missed out. The front row is Ferrari’s the race should be Raikkonen’s for the taking.

Hamilton starts 13th on the grid, he was promoted one place because F1 retire Jenson Button picked up a grid penalty. Button is making a one race return to cover for Alonso’s Indycar gamble and at the beginning admitted to finding it difficult to adapt to the new era of F1.

Nevertheless Button put in an impressive display getting into Q3 for a top 10 placement only to see the hard work undone by being demoted to the back of the grid because the Honda engine decided it was time for a change.

Another change that needs to occur is Hamilton’s mental fortitude he looked like he was trying too hard and the harder he drove the closer he came to writing off his qualifying session. Either way this was an undignified display by Hamilton who will need to regather his focus for Sunday’s race.

Qualifying Monaco Grand Prix -Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo