Sebastian Vettel takes pole as bad crash injures Sergio Perez

In the top-ten shoot-out for today's Monaco Grand Prix, Vettel had just scorched to the top of the timesheet with a lap of one minute 13.556secs when Perez smashed into a barrier at the harbour chicane.

The session had to be halted for 38 minutes as Sauber's Perez was first treated trackside before being taken to a nearby medical centre, following which repairs were carried out to the barrier.

With two minutes and 26 seconds remaining at that time, it left Brtain's Lewis Hamilton in trouble as he had yet to set a timed lap by the time of the accident.

The 26-year-old McLaren driver could only qualify seventh, 1.7 seconds adrift of reigning champion Vettel for Red Bull, with McLaren's Jenson Button second on the grid and Red Bull's Mark Webber third.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, who had looked the man to beat during practice, could only manage fourth, with Michael Schumacher fifth ahead of the second Ferrari of Felipe Massa.

Behind Hamilton in eighth will be Nico Rosberg in his Mercedes, his team performing wonders to ensure he was able to take part in qualifying following his crash in final practice that wrecked his car.

Like Perez after him, Rosberg crashed into a barrier emerging out of the tunnel at 180mph before hurtling down the hill towards the harbour chicane where he narrowly avoided a head-on impact with another barrier.

Expressing his sentiments towards Perez, Vettel said: "The most important thing is that Sergio is OK, that he is conscious.

"We're all thinking of him, we wish him the best and hopefully he can start the race tomorrow.

"I had to wait a long time to get the pole, but I'm very pleased."

Button, who endured his own shunt at the same spot eight years ago, said: "It's great that Sergio is OK and talking.

"I was the last person to go in there in 2003, and I know how much it hurts, so hopefully he'll be OK."