Lewis Hamilton believes pole position was possible at the Monaco Grand Prix had his Q3 session not been compromised by a fuel pressure issue.
Hamilton had to be wheeled back to his garage at the start of the top ten shootout after his engine stopped just as he was about to head on track. The problem was quickly resolved to allow him to go back out on track with five minutes remaining, but after making a mistake on his first flying lap he backed off, completed a series of slow laps and then had one last attempt at the end to take pole.
Ultimately he ended up third fastest -- 0.320s down on Daniel Ricciardo's pole position lap and 0.151s off team-mate Nico Rosberg -- but felt his Mercedes had the pace to beat Red Bull.
"It was a difficult qualifying and I don't really know what to say at the moment," he said. "The good thing is that I did get out to do a lap at least so it wasn't as bad as some of the races have been in that respect with the engine problems.
"I'm grateful to be up in third. Obviously, pole was there for the taking I think but nonetheless I'll do what I can tomorrow in the race to salvage what I can from today's result.
Asked about his chances in Sunday's race, Hamilton added: "If the car keeps going, then I'll be fighting as hard as I can with these guys, but you can't overtake here and, if Daniel is on a different strategy, it will be hard. So we'll see... maybe it rains ... that'd be pretty amazing!"