Kimi Raikkonen will start the Monaco grand prix from pole position after setting a new lap record at the circuit de Monaco.

It is his first pole in 128 grands prix, with the previously most recent coming in France in 2008.

Finn Raikkonen produced a stunning time of 1min 12.178sec to set the standard and hold off teammate Sebastian Vettel by less than a tenth of a second for an all-Ferrari front row.

Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo will start from fifth.

The prime spot in Monaco nearly even caused the ‘Iceman’ Raikkonen to crack a smile.

“Obviously it’s the best place to start for tomorrow, but it doesn’t guarantee anything,” Raikkonen said.

“Nevertheless I’ll happily take it. It’s been all weekend quite OK. So happy for myself, happy for the team.”

Vettel too was happy for his teammate, although if he doesn’t overtake him by the second corner he may not have a chance to win his second Monaco title and first with Ferrari.

“As Kimi said, it’s about putting the lap together. Maybe I struggled a bit more in quali than him – but at the end of the day he was faster so he’s ahead. Simple.”

The other flying Finn in the field, Mercedes star Valtteri Bottas, will start from third.

That it becomes a race to the first turn in Monaco is due to the tight track and the now wider cars, which make passing even more difficult at a circuit notorious for awarding pole-sitters.

Since 2004, 10 of the 14 winners have started on the front of the grid and only Lewis Hamilton has won from the second row, having done so twice.

It’s also part of the reason Ricciardo was left fuming after a timing error cost him a clear track in his final qualifying run.

“We came out in traffic so I couldn’t push on the last run, on the out lap, and it seemed like we had 20 seconds to Perez behind me and they put me out just behind Max and he was on a build lap,” Ricciardo said.

“And then we caught Jenson (Button) as well… so why we put me out in traffic when we knew we needed a hard out lap was a pretty obvious mistake.”

Lewis Hamilton will start from 12th after having problems with his tyres all through Saturday practice and qualifying.

“I was devastated after the session to the point that I couldn’t get out of the car,” Hamilton said.

“So much energy and work goes into these weeks … and the other car was able to get it to work and I can’t for the life of me think of why we couldn’t. It feels like a mystery.”