Charles Leclerc secured pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix, leading McLaren’s Oscar Piastri at the end of Q3. Max Verstappen could only manage a P6 finish after crashing on his final lap.
Ferrari were the strong favourites after dominating FP2 and FP3, but the Scuderia weren’t immediately on the pace. After sending both of their drivers onto the track out of sequence, neither Sainz nor Leclerc were in the conversation for the top spot during the early stages.
While there was frustration at Ferrari, there was even more on show at Red Bull as Sergio Perez suffered a Q1 elimination along with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso. The two big hitters were both in the bottom five at the chequered flag, along with Logan Sargeant, Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu.
There were fewer shocks in Q2, although Ferrari once again failed to demonstrate the pace that they teased during practice. Both Haas cars were eliminated, while Lance Stroll, despite levelling the team-mate head-to-head at Aston Martin, was also in the bottom five. Esteban Ocon and Daniel Ricciardo were the other unlucky drivers.
Ferrari fans were made to wait to see Leclerc’s true pace, but he delivered in Q3, dominating both the first and second runs to pip Piastri to pole position.
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