2014 Formula 1 Drivers Champion Lewis Hamilton grabs his first Monaco GP pole position.

According to BBC sport, the Briton beat his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg by .0342 seconds, with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel coming in third.

Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo managed fourth place in qualifying with team-mate Daniil Kyvat behind him in fifth.

Hamilton expressed his delight in finally securing pole, having been bested by Rosberg in the past two years.

"It has been a long, long time," Hamilton said in a statement.. "I can't explain how happy I am."

"It was a difficult session," he explained. "A lot of things threw me off my rhythm and I did not have one until the last two laps."

"It is difficult to express how difficult this track is," the Englishman shared." It is important to get into a rhythm and improve. It is like climbing a ladder and if you slide back down sometimes it is hard to climb back up again."

"It wasn't easy and that makes it more special," he went on to explain.

Gaining pole position at the Monaco GP is always a season higlight, due to the difficulty it presents to drivers when overtaking at its narrow track.

"Monaco is a track where the driver can make a difference," says Force India driver Sergio Perez.

Hamilton, 30, was 0.136 seconds quicker than his German team-mate on their final session and improved by more than 0.2 seconds in his last run. Rosberg aborted his final lap when he locked up and ran wide at the Sainte Devote corner.

"I had a good rhythm starting off but then lost touch close to the end," Rosberg said in a statement.

Hamilton, who was defeated by Rosberg in the last race in Spain heads to the Monaco GP 20 points ahead of his team-mate.