Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc claimed a shock pole position ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix before crashing out in the dying embers of qualifying. The Monegasque beat Max Verstappen while seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton could only qualify seventh.
Leclerc was 0.230s faster than Verstappen after his first run during Q3 but endured a heavy impact crash when exiting the Swimming Pool on his final lap. The crash brought out a red flag that cut qualifying short early.
A 1m10.346s was good enough for Leclerc to clinch pole position for the first time since the 2019 Mexican Grand Prix. Although the team have their worries, the Ferrari driver could have picked up gearbox damage in his incident which would result in a grip drop.
Verstappen was going quicker on his final flying lap by nearly 0.150s, setting the fastest first sector before he had to abort his lap due to the red flags.
Leclerc’s crash ruined everyone’s final efforts with Valtteri Bottas completing the top three as he out-qualified teammate Hamilton, the Finn was 0.255s off the pole time.
Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton had a horrible qualifying session as he struggled to extract the grip of his soft compound tyres. Hamilton finished the session in seventh, behind Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, Lando Norris in fifth and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly in sixth.
Hamilton entered the weekend with a 14-point buffer over Verstappen in the champion, although he faces an uphill battle if he is to leave Monaco with his lead intact.
Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel was eighth-fastest for Aston Martin, the German had heaps of confidence as he returned to one of his favourite circuits on the calendar.
Sergio Perez was unable to match the pace of his teammate as he starts from ninth, Antonio Giovinazzi produced an excellent lap to claim Alfa Romeo’s first Q3 appearance of the season.
Esteban Ocon just missed out on a crucial spot inside the top 10, he ended up 11th-fastest for Alpine and will have free tyre choice ahead of tomorrows Grand Prix.
Daniel Ricciardo continued to struggle at Monaco as the Australian was unable to join his McLaren teammate in the top 10 as he finished the session in 12th.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was in 13th as he out-qualified the second Alfa Romeo of Kimi Raikkonen and George Russell, who continued his successive Q2 appearances this season.
Yuki Tsunoda was eliminated in Q1 for the second consecutive race as the Alpha Tauri driver missed out by the smallest of margins.
Two-time Monaco winner Fernando Alonso endured his worst qualifying session since returning to the sport. The former world champion was only faster than Nicholas Latifi and both Haas cars on the weekend, where he would normally be competing in the Indy 500.
Haas rookie Nikita Mazepin completed the field as Mick Schumacher failed to take part in qualifying after he sustained a heavy crash in the final practice session of the weekend.
The German completes the grid and will start at the very back ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix.
