Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc claims Monaco GP pole position On Saturday and he became the first Monegasque to take pole position for his home race in more than 80 years.
Louis Chiron (whom Leclerc’s helmet for this weekend is dedicated to) was last Monegasque driver to take Monaco pole in 1936.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen clinches P2 ahead of Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas in P3. Max Verstappen is on the front row in Monaco for the first time, although any Leclerc grid penalty would give Verstappen pole, a reversal of what happened for Ferrari’s last pole in Mexico 2019.
Today’s Pole marks Ferrari’s first pole since Mexico 2019 is their first top-three start in this decade, and their 11th Monaco pole (tying McLaren’s record).
The Monegasque put together the fastest lap of the weekend with his first run in Q3 but pushed a little too hard on his second run, clipping the Armco as he turned into the chicane, which broke his front suspension sending him across the kerb and into the barrier on the other side.
That incident brought out the red flag with less than a minute to go, ending the session prematurely and preventing anyone – including Max Verstappen who was purple in sector one – from completing their final lap.
Reigning world champion and championship leader Lewis Hamilton ended up down in seventh, starting outside the top six for the fist time since the 2018 German Grand Prix.
Carlos Sainz, who was one of the drivers who had to abort following his team mate’s crash, was fourth – his highest grid slot in the Principality. However, it is the first time he has been outqualified by a team mate around the streets of Monaco.
Lando Norris in the Gulf Oil liveried McLaren was sixth, the team’s best Monaco start since 2012, with Pierre Gasly making it three top six starts in five Grands Prix.
Sebastian Vettel has looked the strongest he has all season this weekend – and he continued that momentum with eighth on the grid, having only escaped Q1 by 0.018s. Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi completed the top 10.
Q2 – Vettel & Giovinazzi makes it into Q3
Sainz once again set the early pace in Q2, the Spaniard the first driver into the 1m10s in qualifying, but the track continued to improve as the session went on, with Verstappen taking top spot after the initial runs.
However, it was local boy Leclerc who ultimately ended up setting the pace, demoting Verstappen to second, with Bottas third and Sainz holding on to fourth.
Giovinazzi left himself with everything to do, sitting in the drop zone with only a few minutes to go, but the Italian delivered one of the best qualifying laps of his career to give Alfa Romeo their first Q3 appearance in 2021.
It wasn’t such good news for Daniel Ricciardo, the two-time Monaco pole-sitter failed to reach Q3 in the Principality for the first time since 2012, as he was once again comfortably outqualified by team mate Lando Norris who ended up sixth.
Lance Stroll will start a career-best 13th on the grid, having kissed the barriers with his front left tyre, but it wasn’t enough to progress to the top 10 shoot-out. His team mate Vettel had no such problems though, the four-time world champion making it 12 consecutive Q3 appearances in Monaco.
Knocked out: Ocon, Ricciardo, Stroll, Raikkonen, Russell
Q1 – Schumacher spends time in garrage
Mick Schumacher was forced to watch qualifying from the side-lines after losing the rear end of his Haas coming out of Casino Square, which caused so much damage, there wasn’t enough time to repair it.
At the other end of classification, Fernando Alonso set his best time on his final run, but it wasn’t enough to get through as he was eliminated from Q1 for the first time since the 2018 Brazilian Grand Prix.
He was joined in an early finish by Yuki Tsunoda, who endured his third Q1 exit in four races, with Nicholas Latifi – whose Williams team did a great job to get his car ready after an FP3 crash – and Nikita Mazepin plus of course Schumacher the other drivers who failed to progress.
George Russell maintained his record of reaching Q2 at every race this season, while four-time world champion Vettel – who has looked more comfortable in Monaco and outpaced his team mate Stroll – scraped through by just 0.018s.
Knocked out: Tsunoda, Alonso, Latifi, Mazepin, Schumacher
