That was a much better qually than I was expecting. I didn't have any high hopes for the weekend, perhaps because I was still thinking back to the days when the teams did a huge amount of winter testing there and it was all very predictable.
The deletion of the chicane is brilliant. Something I have been wishing for for years but never thought it would happen.
The generally topsy-turvy grid shows a lot of teams getting totally different results from their two drivers:
Ferrari upgrades seem to be working but there was clearly something wrong on Leclerc's car.
One Red Bull was overwhelmingly dominant, leaving Perez looking very lacklustre.
Stroll in front of Alonso was a surprise to me, so thanks to Peebee for pointing out that Alonso damaged his floor when he went for a wander in Q1.
I'm not sure why Russell fell so short of Hamilton. Did he just get caught out by the rapidly improving track? Perhaps he missed out on the big lap when he collided with his teammate, but that affected Hamilton too.
The circuit seemed to play to the McLaren strengths. I was delighted to see Lando right up there and it was disappointing that Piastri wasn't there too after his good showing earlier.
Alpine showed their Monaco result wasn't just a flash in the pan. Did they take the mirrors off Gasly's car to make it go faster?
With Carlos on the front row and Fred a little way back, the Spanish fans will have to redirect their allegiance for the race.