Leclerc shines again on home soil! Verstappen fails in qualifying

The packed grandstands on the streets of Monaco had the opportunity to watch the home favourite get the best position at the start of the VC. Verstappen didn’t follow up his streak of pole position to finish sixth. Young talent Oscar Piastri will start from the front row alongside Leclerc.

Q1

As expected, the Kick Sauber drivers stayed behind the others, with Valtteri Bottas taking 19th place at the start, with Zhou 20th. The Swiss stable is not at all comfortable with the track in Monaco, with Bottas losing 5 tenths to 18th place.

The same time difference between 18th and 1st place. Eighteenth place belongs to the first surprising name among the dropouts – Sergio Pérez. The driver in Red Bull colours is not doing ideally so far in the season after which his contract expires. He lost second place in the championship to Leclerc after the VC of Emilia Romagna and the Monegasque’s lead is expected to increase after this weekend.

Fernando Alonso also dropped out of qualifying early. The Spanish veteran, who had a chance to win the Monaco VC last season, is 16th. Only Logan Sargeant’s performance was good enough for 17th place.

Q2

After the first part of qualifying, the drivers were well aware that the smallest details would separate the very even field. As a result, there were more driving errors and a few drivers even leaned on the barriers lining the track, but they all made it through the 15-minute session without a glitch.

Alpine has made huge progress since the start of the season. Ocon missed out on third qualifying by 5 hundredths. Pierre Gasly set the fifth fastest time in the second qualifying session.

The second qualifying session was the final one for Haas. Magnussen improved his time from the first qualifying only slightly, and took 15th place. Hülkenberg finished 12th.

Row seven belongs to two drivers who have scored very few points this season compared to their teammates – Stroll and Ricciardo. Although the Canadian driver beat his teammate today, it will be hard to think about points from 14th place.

Q3

At the start of the battle for pole position, Leclerc embarrassed the home fans by complaining over the radio about the strange behaviour of the pedals. But no problems stopped the Monegasque from going for pole position. He confirmed his role as the favourite. For the second time, he will have the opportunity to win at the track he grew up at.

A fantastic qualifying session for Oscar Piastri. He’ll put his McLaren in second place at the start. Norris has been a step behind his teammate all weekend, but will be attacking the podium from fourth place.

Verstappen was unable to extend his win streak in qualifying when he slipped at the first corner on his last attempt and crashed slightly into the barrier. A fast first lap was only good enough for sixth place.

Mercedes can be more or less satisfied with qualifying. Russell once again got the better of Hamilton to finish fifth. The seven-time champion will start from seventh.

The F1 race is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. on Sunday. In Monaco, the queen of motorsport is accompanied by the junior F2 and F3 categories.

Source: F1TV