Charles Leclerc took pole in an enthralling Monaco Grand Prix qualifying session that saw a handful of drivers all fighting for top spot.
Leclerc was the pacesetter through practice, but Hamilton proved to be the surprise package given Mercedes' previous struggles.
Just like last week in Imola, Red Bull were not as dominant as they previously were either.
And that was evident in Q1 when Sergio Perez could only manage 18th fastest during a packed session.
Charles Leclerc took pole on his home race
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Fernando Alonso was also unable to make it through to Q2 while Mercedes showed their pace as Russell topped the timesheet ahead of Oscar Piastri and Hamilton.
"We've been struggling all weekend," Perez said.
"We couldn't get in the rhythm in qualifying and that meant we were quite far off initially.
"On my final lap when things were looking good, I encountered traffic and those couple of tenths were enough to (knock me out in Q1).
"I think I was half a second off P1 so the margins were extremely tight out there."
Verstappen wasn't having the same issues as Perez though as he began to find his groove in Q2.
But there was barely anything to separate a handful of drivers at the top with McLaren, Mercedes, Ferrari and Verstappen all showing good pace.
Esteban Ocon just missed out on making it through to Q3 with both Haas drivers, Daniel Ricciardo and Lance Stroll all dropping out in Q2.
Oscar Piastri put his McLaren on the front row
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But it was all eyes on the final shootout with Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes looking to break Verstappen's run of pole positions.
Leclerc took provisional pole with an incredible lap after the first set of runs, although Oscar Piastri was only two-thousandths-of-a-second behind.
The Monegasque driver then managed to improve on his time to make sure of pole position in his home circuit.
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Lewis Hamilton had shown good pace in Monaco prior to qualifying
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Piastri put his McLaren on the front row alongside Leclerc with another incredible lap.
But Verstappen hit the wall that stopped him being able to improve on his lap time and that proved costly for the reigning world champion.
The Dutchman complained on team radio after the error as he blamed the car's handling.
"I've hit the wall!" Verstappen said. "Ah man, this car is slippery!"
