Charles Leclerc took his third pole position at the Monaco Grand Prix in a qualifying session full of shocks and surprises.
Leclerc will be hoping it’s third time lucky at his home circuit, having failed to secure even a podium from his last two pole positions. Oscar Piastri matched his best qualifying to secure a spot on the front row.
It was a great day for Scuderia Ferrari as Carlos Sainz Jr. completed the top three, for Ferrari’s best qualifying of the year.
Q1 – Sergio Pérez and Fernando Alonso knocked out
Q1 saw constant running as you’d expect at Monaco with the drivers looking to make the most of track evolution and stay out of the way of traffic as much as possible. Ferrari chose to run both Leclerc and Sainz out of sync during the first set of runs, leaving the Monegasque slightly frustrated when he was left down the order going onto the final few runs. It wasn’t too much of an issue though as he managed to put in a lap time more than good enough to get him through into the next part of qualifying.
McLaren F1 Team also put lots of pressure on Lando Norris to deliver late on in Q1, with the Miami Grand Prix winner down in the bottom five with two minutes to go. He delivered though, lifting himself out of the drop zone.
There was two surprises to end the first part of qualifying. Fernando Alonso found himself down and out in sixteenth, meaning he’s been out qualified by Lance Stroll four times in a row. The other shock was Sergio Pérez failing to reach Q2 for the second year running around Monaco.
It was a miserable day for Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber, with their drivers down in nineteenth and twentieth, while Logan Sargeant was once again knocked out in Q1.
Q2 – Daniel Ricciardo fails to match Yuki Tsunoda, Alpine improved
Without Pérez and Alonso in the second part of qualifying, many drivers figured they had a chance to get themselves into Q3 and into the top ten shootout in such a crucial qualifying session.
Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hülkenberg would’ve fancied their chances to get into Q3, but both Haas F1 Team drivers failed to get into the top ten, and will start Sunday’s race in fifteenth and twelfth respectively, giving them both a tough task on a track that’s difficult to overtake on.
Stroll ended in fourteenth and will start next to Daniel Ricciardo, who failed to get his tyres fired up after a positive Q1 session that saw him ahead of his teammate but despite that the Australian will start thirteenth, meaning his first points in a race format will most likely have to wait for at least another weekend.
Esteban Ocon ended in eleventh, but the major story was from his teammate, Pierre Gasly, who managed to get an Alpine Q3 for the first time this season. He managed to lift himself to fifth and the celebrations on the radio showed just how tough the start to 2024 has been for the French outfit.
Yuki Tsunoda continued his impressive run of qualifying form and got himself into Q3 once again, alongside Alex Albon for the first time this season.
Credit: Scuderia Ferrari Press Office
Q3 – Max Verstappen falters, Charles Leclerc delivers
There was an unusual feel to Q3, with Max Verstappen not the favourite to take pole position. The final runs were key, with Leclerc top and Verstappen just behind in third, but it was the former that delivered when the pressure was on.
Putting an extra two tenths between himself and the competition was crucial but all eyes turned to Verstappen. The Dutchman was pushing to the absolute limit and in doing so, he hit the wall leaving him without a chance of a second attempt at pole.
Piastri was the next to cross the line with a great lap, but it wasn’t enough for pole, only second, it was a similar story for Sainz who crossed the line to round out the top three.
Lando Norris completed a top four consisting of just Ferrari and McLaren’s, while George Russell once again beat Lewis Hamilton in qualifying to secure a top five start. Verstappen’s original effort was enough to keep him in sixth, ahead of Hamilton, who failed to show anything similar to what we saw in Free Practice.
Tsunoda was the best of the rest in eighth, followed by Albon and Gasly, who rounded out the top ten.
Potential penalties – Hulkenberg and others
Hülkenberg is under investigation for impeding Ocon, while there are other potential investigations to come for the likes of Sainz, who got in the way of Albon during Q2. There was also multiple decision from the stewards to give no further actions to a number of drivers for failing to meet the minimum delta.
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| POS | NO | DRIVER | CAR | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | LAPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | FERRARI | 1:11.584 | 1:10.825 | 1:10.270 | 26 |
| 2 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 1:11.500 | 1:10.756 | 1:10.424 | 24 |
| 3 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | FERRARI | 1:11.543 | 1:11.075 | 1:10.518 | 28 |
| 4 | 4 | Lando Norris | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 1:11.760 | 1:10.732 | 1:10.542 | 27 |
| 5 | 63 | George Russell | MERCEDES | 1:11.492 | 1:10.929 | 1:10.543 | 28 |
| 6 | 1 | Max Verstappen | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | 1:11.711 | 1:10.745 | 1:10.567 | 28 |
| 7 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | MERCEDES | 1:11.528 | 1:11.056 | 1:10.621 | 28 |
| 8 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB HONDA RBPT | 1:11.852 | 1:11.106 | 1:10.858 | 25 |
| 9 | 23 | Alexander Albon | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 1:11.623 | 1:11.216 | 1:10.948 | 29 |
| 10 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | ALPINE RENAULT | 1:11.714 | 1:10.896 | 1:11.311 | 30 |
| 11 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | ALPINE RENAULT | 1:11.887 | 1:11.285 | 20 | |
| 12 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | HAAS FERRARI | 1:11.876 | 1:11.440 | 20 | |
| 13 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB HONDA RBPT | 1:11.785 | 1:11.482 | 21 | |
| 14 | 18 | Lance Stroll | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 1:11.728 | 1:11.563 | 17 | |
| 15 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | HAAS FERRARI | 1:11.832 | 1:11.725 | 18 | |
| 16 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 1:12.019 | 11 | ||
| 17 | 2 | Logan Sargeant | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 1:12.020 | 12 | ||
| 18 | 11 | Sergio Perez | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | 1:12.060 | 12 | ||
| 19 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | KICK SAUBER FERRARI | 1:12.512 | 11 | ||
| 20 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | KICK SAUBER FERRARI | 1:13.028 | 11 |