F1 Monaco GP: Leclerc takes pole, Verstappen in sixth – motor sports News

Local boy Charles Leclerc created history as he stormed to take Ferrari’s 250th pole position. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri showed a lot of promise as he will start second on the grid ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. Both Ferrari and McLaren took the top four positions as Lando Norris will start behind Sainz. There was some good news for Mercedes as George Russell rounded up the top five. Defending champion Max Verstappen had a torrent day as he failed to top any of the three qualifying sessions and will start sixth on race day.

F1 Monaco GP Qualifying: Is it third time lucky for Leclerc? 

Charles Leclerc is one of the favourites to win the Monaco Grand Prix and he didn’t disappoint in qualifying. The Monegasque showed a brisk pace in both Free Practice and at the qualifying. This is Leclerc’s third pole at home. Soon after bagging pole position, he said, ”With my experience, now I can say that qualifying isn’t everything. I need a good launch from the grid.” The Ferrari driver has not yet won the Grand Prix in Monaco and would be looking to change that.  

The same could not be said for his teammate Carlos Sainz, who had been struggling the entire weekend. With grit and determination, the Spaniard managed to sign off the qualifying session on a high by taking P3. After the Q3 session, he admitted, “It was an improvement for me as I’ve been struggling this weekend, especially in the short runs. It’s Monaco and anything can happen.” 

F1 Monaco GP Qualifying: Piastri Power

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri had one his best qualifying days in his Formula 1 career as he was consistently one of the fastest drivers in all three sessions. During the initial laps, both Lando Norris and Piastri clocked quick times but later the Australian set the fastest lap.

In the dying moments of Q1, Leclerc showcased the power of Ferrari and became the quickest on the street circuit only to be shot down by George Russell. By the end of Q1, Russell, Piastri and Lewis Hamilton managed to get the better of Leclerc. Piastri continued with the same momentum in Q2 and in the final session, he was the only racer who came close to putting some pressure on Leclerc as he was only 0.026 seconds behind the Ferrari man. 

F1 Monaco GP Qualifying: Nothing to see here

It was quite obvious that Red Bull was struggling to get the right car set up for the Monaco street race. Verstappen was struggling with grip and after the Q3 session, he voiced his disappointment on the team radio saying, “The car is slippery.” The Dutchman did top Q2 for some time before Norris bulldozed his way through, but throughout the qualifying, one could see the car sliding and understeer. The Dutchman was on the verge of creating history by claiming nine consecutive pole positions beating the great Ayrton Senna’s record, but it was not to be. At least not today.

Things couldn’t have started worse for both Red Bull and Aston Martin as Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso failed in Q1 and will begin at 18th and 16th respectively.

Position	Driver	Team
1	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari
2.	Oscar Piastri	McLaren
3.	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari
4.	Lando Norris	McLaren
5.	George Russell	Mercedes
6.	Max Verstappen	Red Bull
7.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
8.	Yuki Tsunoda	RB
9.	Alex Albon	Williams
10.	Pier Gasly	Alpine