Monaco’s pole position will be occupied by Charles Leclerc.
Charles Leclerc will line up on pole position for his home race, the Monaco Grand Prix, the Ferrari driver delighting his home fans as he pipped Oscar Piastri by a tenth.
Max Verstappen, the Dutchman, found himself in sixth place during the qualifying session, while Sergio Perez failed to advance beyond Q1.
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With new rules governing driver etiquette, the drivers were quick to line up in the pit lane where Lewis Hamilton led the queue while Zhou Guanyu found himself unable to get into the line and was forced to wait.
Contrary to high expectations placed on Ferrari, it was Nico Hulkenberg who took the lead with only 10 minutes remaining, surpassing Hamilton as the front-runner while driving for Haas.
However, during the session, the drivers deviated from the usual routine of completing three laps and pitting. Instead, they chose to stay out on the track. Surprisingly, Oscar Piastri managed to take the lead ahead of Max Verstappen. Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc found himself in 10th place, struggling with a piece of plastic stuck to his front wing.
With just three minutes left, the driver from Monaco bounced back and secured the top spot, while Sergio Perez found himself in the undesirable 15th position. Due to the heavy traffic in Monaco, a long line formed at the final corner as all the drivers queued up for their last lap.
George Russell emerged as the fastest in the session’s conclusion, whereas Fernando Alonso, Logan Sargeant, Sergio Perez, Valtteri Bottas, and Zhou were eliminated.
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Hulkenberg set the initial time in Q2, clocking in at 1:11.9, but Verstappen quickly surpassed him by reducing it by eight-tenths on his first flying lap.
After Esteban Ocon expressed his frustration with “blocking, blocking,” Carlos Sainz smoothly took over the P1 position. Meanwhile, the stewards took note of Hulkenberg’s involvement in the incident and will conduct an investigation after the session.
With just three minutes remaining in the session, Piastri held the lead in P1, leading Leclerc by a margin of 0.069s, while Stroll was in danger of being eliminated as the first driver in the drop zone.
Q2 ended with Lando Norris quickest, and out went Ocon, who was booted out by his Alpine team-mate Gasly, Hulkenberg, Daniel Ricciardo, Stroll and Kevin Magnussen. Alex Albon snuck through in 10th place for his first Q3 showing of the season.
Charles Leclerc on pole position in Monaco
Hamilton set the initial benchmark with a time of 1:10.9, but was narrowly beaten by Leclerc despite the Ferrari driver experiencing problems with his pedals. Leclerc managed to record a time of 1:10.4, with the McLaren teammates positioned right behind him until Verstappen intervened and separated them. Verstappen mentioned, “I’m facing similar problems in turns 5 and 10.”
Sainz and Verstappen headed out again on fresh soft tyres, aiming for an unobstructed track. Unfortunately, Verstappen had an unfortunate encounter with the wall, while Leclerc managed to outpace everyone in the first sector and ultimately set the fastest time with an impressive 1:10.270.
However, he had to be patient for the arrival of the McLarens. Piastri secured the second-fastest time, just a tenth of a second behind, while Norris settled for fourth place.
Leclerc clinched his first pole position of the season after qualifying, finishing +0.154s ahead of Piastri. Sainz secured third place, leading Norris. Verstappen, on the other hand, settled for sixth position as Russell also overtook him.
Times
1 Charles LECLERC 1:10.270
2 Oscar PIASTRI +0.154
3 Carlos SAINZ +0.248
4 Lando NORRIS +0.272
5 George RUSSELL +0.273
6 Max VERSTAPPEN +0.297
7 Lewis HAMILTON +0.351
8 Yuki TSUNODA +0.588
9 Alexander ALBON +0.678
10 Pierre GASLY +1.041
11 Esteban OCON 1:11.285
12 Nico HULKENBERG 1:11.440
13 Daniel RICCIARDO 1:11.482
14 Lance STROLL 1:11.563
15 Kevin MAGNUSSEN 1:11.725
16 Fernando ALONSO 1:12.019
17 Logan SARGEANT 1:12.020
18 Sergio PEREZ 1:12.060
19 Valtteri BOTTAS 1:12.512
20 Guanyu ZHOU 1:13.028
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