Charles Leclerc has sensationally captured pole position for the Monaco GP. Leclerc provided the big surprise but crashed at the end of qualifying. Max Verstappen drove the second time while World Cup leader Lewis Hamilton did not get further than the second time.
Qualifying for the Monaco GP started with just nineteen instead of twenty riders. After all, at the end of the third practice session, Mick Schumacher crashed and the Haas F1 team did not get his F1 car repaired in time for qualifying.
During qualifying in Monaco it is always important to keep an eye out for traffic. For the riders, the very short and narrow street circuit is always looking for a smooth and free lap. Especially during the first part of qualifying, this is a problem with in that case up to nineteen cars on the track at the same time.
Ultimately, at the end of the first qualifying section, there was one big surprise: two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso was killed with a seventeenth fastest time while teammate Esteban Ocon managed to push through with a tenth fastest time.
In Q2 we saw home driver Charles Leclerc set the fastest time. Would Ferrari provide the surprise by taking pole position? Leclerc was only a handful of thousandths faster than Max Verstappen, but what was especially striking was the disappointing seventh time of Lewis Hamilton who was more than half a second slower than Leclerc.
Did we have a battle between Max Verstappen and both Ferraris for pole position or did Lewis Hamilton still get involved in the battle for pole?
During the first attempts in Q3, we saw Max Verstappen be the first to claim a provisional pole position, but the Dutchman could not enjoy his best time for long. Charles Leclerc dived more than two tenths below the time of Verstappen in the Ferrari and was virtually in pole position after the first runs.
Valtteri Bottas set a third fastest time while Lewis Hamilton did not get past a seventh fastest time and also had to put up with Sainz, Norris and Gasly. However, we got a second ultimate attempt in the battle for pole.
However, an anti-climax followed, as everyone was building up to a final ultimate attempt, Charles Leclerc crashed into his Ferrari and the Monegask immediately caused a red flag and an early end to qualifying.
Despite his heavy crash, Leclerc is in pole position with Max Verstappen next to him on the first row. World Cup leader Lewis Hamilton got no further than a disappointing seventh fastest time.
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1: 11.113s 1: 10.597s 1: 10.346s
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:11.124s 1:10.650s 1:10.576s
3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:10.938s 1:10.695s 1:10.601s
4 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1: 11.324s 1: 10.806s 1: 10.611s
5 Lando Norris McLaren 1:11.321s 1:11.031s 1:10.620s
6 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1:11.560s 1:11.179s 1:10.900s
7 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:11.622s 1:11.116s 1:11.095s
8 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 1:12.078s 1:11.309s 1:11.419s
9 Sergio Pérez Red Bull 1: 11.644s 1: 11.019s 1: 11.573s
10 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 1: 11.658s 1: 11.409s 1: 11.779s
11 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:11.740s 1:11.486s
12 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 1: 11.747s 1: 11.598s
13 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:11.979s 1:11.600s
14 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo 1: 11.899s 1: 11.642s
15 George Russell Williams 1:12.016s 1:11.830s
16 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1: 12.096s
17 Fernando Alonso Alpine 1:12.205s
18 Nicholas Latifi Williams 1:12.366s
19 Nikita Mazepin Haas 1:12.958s
20 Mick Schumacher Haas
More F1 News: