Monaco FR3.5: Nico Muller takes maiden pole

The Draco driver grabbed top spot in the final minute of qualifying, taking the place away from Lotus's Marco Sorensen.

Muller and Sorensen managed to put fancied runners Stoffel Vandoorne and Antonio Felix da Costa - who have both already won races this season - in the shade after the title-chasing pair had set the early pace in the second group of split qualifying.

Muller's time was also comfortably quicker than Jazeman Jaafar, who had topped the first group for Carlin following a fierce battle with championship leader Kevin Magnussen.

As the leaders of their respective sessions, Muller and Jaafar will share the front row.

Sorensen will lead the second row away, with his Danish countryman Magnussen the top title contender starting alongside him in fourth.

Next up should have been Stoffel Vandoorne, who was third fastest in the second group. However, the McLaren junior has a five-place grid penalty for crashing under yellow flags in free practice.

The rest of the top 10 is made up by debutant Carlos Sainz Jr, Norman Nato and Will Stevens (third to fifth in the first group), da Costa and former champion Mikhail Aleshin (fourth and fifth in the second group).

GP3 racer Sainz was close to causing an upset in the first session, where he went fastest overall in the middle sector of his last lap.

However, he made a mistake in the second part of the Swimming Pool section and bounced over the kerbs, ruining any chance he had of topping the session.

Pos  Driver                  Team            Time
 1.  Nico Muller             Draco           1m23.453s  Group B
 2.  Jazeman Jaafar          Carlin          1m23.648s  Group A
 3.  Marco Sorensen          Lotus           1m23.463s  Group B
 4.  Kevin Magnussen         DAMS            1m24.219s  Group A
 5.  Stoffel Vandoorne       Fortec          1m23.607s  Group B*
 6.  Carlos Sainz Jr         Zeta Corse      1m24.417s  Group A
 7.  Antonio Felix da Costa  Arden Caterham  1m23.627s  Group B
 8.  Norman Nato             DAMS            1m24.457s  Group A
 9.  Mikhail Aleshin         Tech 1          1m23.843s  Group B
10.  Will Stevens            P1/Strakka      1m24.579s  Group A
11.  Oliver Webb             Fortec          1m23.974s  Group B
12.  Arthur Pic              AV              1m24.602s  Group A
13.  Nick Yelloly            Zeta Corse      1m24.076s  Group B
14.  Andre Negrao            Draco           1m24.783s  Group A
15.  Daniil Move             Comtec          1m24.200s  Group B
16.  Marlon Stockinger       Lotus           1m24.857s  Group A
17.  Carlos Huertas          Carlin          1m24.354s  Group B
18.  Christopher Zanella     ISR             1m25.163s  Group A
19.  Sergey Sirotkin         ISR             1m24.569s  Group B
20.  Nikolay Martsenko       Pons            1m25.293s  Group A
21.  Yann Cunha              AV              1m25.891s  Group B
22.  Lucas Foresti           Comtec          1m25.529s  Group A
23.  Pietro Fantin           Arden Caterham  1m25.901s  Group B
24.  Matias Laine            P1/Strakka      1m26.206s  Group A
25.  Zoel Amberg             Pons            1m29.076s  Group B
26.  Nigel Melker            Tech 1          1m30.285s  Group A

* Will receive five-place penalty