Story highlights
- Nico Rosberg on pole positon for Monaco Grand Prix
- Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton second quickest
- Daniel Ricciardo third on grid for Red Bull
- NEW: Rosberg cleared by race stewards of any infraction
Nico Rosberg survived an investigation by race stewards to claim a controversial pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix Saturday ahead of disgruntled Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton.
They ruled there was "no evidence of any offence" after several hours of mulling over an incident which happened at the back end of the qualifying session.
Both men were on their last flying laps when Rosberg lost control of his car and took to the escape road at Mirabeau.
Hamilton, who was behind him and two hundredths of a second ahead on the first sector timings, was forced to slow up as yellow flags were waived and eventually abandoned his effort.
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It meant Rosberg's one minute 15.989 clocking from his penultimate run gave him first place on the grid, with Hamilton 0.059 seconds slower from a previous effort.
But it left Hamilton clearly fuming and insisting at the post-qualifying press conference that he was "on target" to take pole before his teammate went off.
Rosberg claimed he had "tried to push just that little bit more and went over the edge," refuting any suggestion that it had been a deliberate ploy to deny Hamilton his chance of pole.
The German, who lives in Monte Carlo, was nevertheless delighted to have taken pole on the famous circuit for the second straight year.
"I'm really, really happy -- to be on pole at home is fantastic, it couldn't be better," he added.
Behind the all-conquering Mercedes pair it was Australian Daniel Ricciardo who again got the better of Red Bull teammate and four-time defending champion Sebastian Vettel for third and fourth on the grid.
Two-time former world champion Fernando Alonso will occupy the third row ahead of his Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen.
Frenchman Jean-Eric Vergne of Toro Rosso and Danish rookie Kevin Magnussen of McLaren were seventh and eighth fastest .
Another rookie, Russian Daniil Kvyat in the second Toro Rosso was ninth and Mexican Sergio Perez completed the top 10 for Force India.
Hamilton leads Rosberg by three points in the title race after winning the last four races, but pole position on the tight street circuit in Monte Carlo virtually guarantees victory come Sunday's race.
Rosberg took the season-opener in Australia when Hamilton failed to finish, but has had to settle for second place to the Briton in the last four rounds, with signs of tension between the two men in their own private battle for the world championship.
After the late incident the atmosphere in the interview area appeared distinctly frosty with 2008 champion Hamilton giving short answers to questions on the subject.
