Leclerc takes pole position around the streets of Monte-Carlo ahead of Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix

Hometown hero Charles Leclerc took pole in Saturday afternoon’s Formula One qualifying session, despite a crash at the exit of the tricky Swimming Pool chicane which ended the Q3 session prematurely.

Monaco’s qualifying remains the most important qualifying session of the season, as overtaking opportunities come few and far during Sunday’s Grand Prix.

The 3.337-kilometre-long circuit goes through the narrow streets of the Monaco principality which runs along the stunning Mediterranean coastline, with every corner offering a huge challenge to even the most experienced drivers on the grid.

Q1

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Mick Schumacher was ruled out of qualifying after his crash at the end of Saturday morning’s FP3 session. His Haas sustained chassis damage after the German crashed out of turn four.

The first driver to set a lap time was Lando Norris who set a 1:12.676 with the McLaren setting an early benchmark in the session.

Valtteri Bottas was the first driver in the 1:10’s with the Finn setting a 1:10.938 to put himself on top of the timing charts.

With five minutes to go, the top nine times of the session were all under a second behind Bottas’ chart-topping time.

In the end, it was Valtteri Bottas who topped the session ahead of Ferrari’s Leclerc in second and Red Bull’s Verstappen in third.

Drivers knocked out of qualifying after the first session were Schumacher (who didn’t set a time), Nikita Mazepin, Nicholas Latifi, Fernando Alonso and Yuki Tsunoda.

Q2

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Drivers started to set banker times at the start of the Q2 session, with the top three consisting of Carlos Sainz, who set a 1:10.806 with Leclerc two-tenths slower and Verstappen who was three-thousandths slower than the Monegasque.

McLaren’s Lando Norris then became a part of a Ferrari sandwich as the Brit split the Ferrari’s, just over six-thousandths ahead of Leclerc.

With just over eight minutes to go, Verstappen set the fastest lap with a 1:10.650, over a tenth and a half quicker than Sainz.

Lewis Hamilton was a man on a mission, the seven-time world champion strung together a good lap, however with just over a minute to go he failed to improve on P6.

With 15 seconds remaining, Leclerc hooked up a fantastic lap, the home hero setting a 1:10.597 which jumped him up to the top of the timesheets.

As the chequered flag dropped, it was Leclerc who topped Q2 ahead of Verstappen and Bottas who set the third quickest time.

Eliminated from qualifying in Q2 was George Russell, Kimi Raikkonen, Lance Stroll, Daniel Ricciardo and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.

Q3

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Verstappen set a 1:10.576, which is the quickest ever time set in a Monaco qualifying session and the Red Bull looked destined for pole position.

With seven and a half minutes to go, Leclerc topped the timesheets with a blistering 1:10.346 time, nearly a quarter of a second ahead of Verstappen’s time.

Lewis Hamilton was still struggling and was nearly three-quarters of a second slower than the Monegasque’s pole time with the Mercedes driver sharing the fourth row with Sebastian Vettel.

With five minutes of the session remaining, Verstappen left his Red Bull pit box with a fresh set of soft tyres. The dark rain clouds loomed over the surrounding hills which caused the team to make the precautionary call.

Provisional pole-sitter Leclerc crashed on the exit of the Swimming Pool chicane denying Verstappen the chance to set a pole time. The Dutchman had set a fast first sector before the red flags came out which concluded the session.

In the end, it was Leclerc who took pole ahead of Max Verstappen who’ll lineup alongside the Ferrari driver on the front row. The Monegasque claimed his first pole position since the Mexican Grand Prix in 2019 which was the last race where Ferrari had started from pole position.

When asked by Paul Di Resta if he was confident he’d start on pole tomorrow, Leclerc was unsure of the extent of the damage sustained to his Ferrari after his crash at the end of the Q3 session – in which he replied “we will see.”

If his gearbox needs replacing, the Monegasque will start tomorrow’s race from the back of the grid.

What’s next?

Leclerc will be hoping his Ferrari car is fit to start his home Grand Prix on pole position, ahead of Max Verstappen who will be hoping Hamilton’s horror show of a weekend continues, which will enable him to make vital inroads on the Brit in the Championship standings.

Tomorrow’s race starts at 3pm track time, where Leclerc will be hoping to take his maiden home victory in Formula One.

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