Leclerc takes pole as Pérez crashes at the Monaco Grand Prix

Charles Leclerc clinched pole position as he led a Scuderia Ferrari 1-2 at the 2022 Monaco Grand Prix. Carlos Sainz was in second position, 0.225 seconds slower than Leclerc.

Sergio Pérez was in third position even as he brought out the red flags at the end of the final qualification session (Q3) as he crashed on his second flying lap.

Leclerc took pole position last year but could not start the race at his home Grand Prix. The Monégasque driver will have another chance for redemption this year.

Max Verstappen and Lando Norris rounded off the top five positions in the qualification session at this hard to overtake track.

The qualifying session started under hot conditions with air temperatures at 25 degrees C and track temperatures at 47 degrees C.

The free practice sessions suggested that the pole shootout was going to be between the Oracle Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Ferrari drivers this afternoon.

The Pirelli tyre choice at this race is the white-striped hard compound tyres (C3), yellow-striped medium compound tyres (C4), and red-striped soft compound tyres (C5) from the softest range of compounds in the Pirelli tyre range.

Q1: Gasly knocked out

At the start of the session, the drivers lined up at the end of the pit lane and waited for the lights to turn green. On this short track, traffic and yellow flags are a major problem.

Lando Norris went to the top of the time charts with a lap time of 1m15.800s. But he was quickly displaced from the top spot by Lewis Hamilton and then Sergio Pérez. Pérez was one second quicker than Hamilton with a lap time of 1m14.369s.

Verstappen took over the top spot for a short time before Pérez and Sainz slotted into the first two positions with identical lap times. Leclerc then went to the top of the time charts with a lap time of 1m12.939s.

With less than two and a half minutes to go, Yuki Tsunoda hit the barriers and suffered a puncture and made it back to the pits. The session was red-flagged and the clock stopped.

When the session resumed, Norris, Daniel Ricciardo, Valtteri Bottas and Tsunoda got themselves out of the drop zone.

The Ferrari drivers, Leclerc and Sainz, topped the session ahead of George Russell. Pierre Gasly who has been fast in all the sessions was the major casualty in this first qualification session.

Q1 dropzone: Alexander Albon, Pierre Gasly, Lance Stroll, Nicholas Latifi, Zhou Guanyo

Q2: Bottas and Ricciardo eliminated

All the thirteen drivers except the BWT Alpine F1 Team drivers were out on the track as soon as the lights went green.

Pérez set the early pace with a lap time of 1m12.059s. Sainz and Leclerc were only 0.015 and 0.033 seconds slower than the Mexican driver in second and third positions.

Leclerc then went to the top of the time charts with a lap time of 1m11.864s. The session ended with Leclerc and Pérez separated by just 0.090 seconds.

Q2 dropzone: Yuki Tsunoda, Valtteri Bottas, Kevin Magnussen, Daniel Ricciardo, Mick Schumacher

Q3: Leclerc takes pole position

The last all-important twelve minutes of the top ten shootout started with pole position being contested by the Scuderia Ferrari and Oracle Red Bull Racing drivers. Leclerc and Pérez were the form drivers this weekend.

Leclerc took provisional pole position with a lap time of 1m11.376s. Sainz was in second position, 0.225 seconds slower than Leclerc. Pérez and Verstappen were in third and fourth positions. Alonso at his combative best slotted into fifth position.

Leclerc was going faster on his second flying lap. But Pérez crashed at Portier and Sainz slid into him and brought out the red flags and ended the session.

Leclerc had taken pole position at his home race again and led a Ferrari 1-2. Pérez and Verstappen had to be content with second row positions. The other drivers could not get in their second flying laps.

Top 10: Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, Sergio Pérez, Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, George Russell, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Esteban Ocon

2022 Monaco Grand Prix Qualification Results:

Pos	No	Driver	Nat.	Car	Q1	Q2	Q3	Laps
1	16	Charles Leclerc	MON	Scuderia Ferrari	1:12.569	1:11.864	1:11.376	24
2	55	Carlos Sainz	ESP	Scuderia Ferrari	1:12.616	1:12.074	1:11.601	25
3	11	Sergio Perez	MEX	Oracle Red Bull Racing	1:13.004	1:11.954	1:11.629	25
4	1	Max Verstappen	NED	Oracle Red Bull Racing	1:12.993	1:12.117	1:11.666	25
5	4	Lando Norris	GBR	McLaren F1 Team	1:12.927	1:12.266	1:11.849	27
6	63	George Russell	GBR	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team	1:12.787	1:12.617	1:12.112	27
7	14	Fernando Alonso	ESP	BWT Alpine F1 Team	1:13.394	1:12.688	1:12.247	22
8	44	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team	1:13.444	1:12.595	1:12.560	29
9	5	Sebastian Vettel	GER	Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team	1:13.313	1:12.613	1:12.732	28
10	31	Esteban Ocon	FRA	BWT Alpine F1 Team	1:12.848	1:12.528	1:13.047	22
11	22	Yuki Tsunoda	JAP	Scuderia AlphaTauri	1:13.110	1:12.797		20
12	77	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	Alfa Romeo Racing	1:13.541	1:12.909		17
13	20	Kevin Magnussen	DEN	Haas F1 Team	1:13.069	1:12.921		20
14	3	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	McLaren F1 Team	1:13.338	1:12.964		21
15	47	Mick Schumacher	GER	Haas F1 Team	1:13.469	1:13.081		17
16	23	Alexander Albon	THA	Williams Racing	1:13.611			14
17	10	Pierre Gasly	FRA	Scuderia AlphaTauri	1:13.660			10
18	18	Lance Stroll	CAN	Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team	1:13.678			11
19	6	Nicholas Latifi	CAN	Williams Racing	1:14.403			13
20	24	Zhou Guanyu	CHN	Alfa Romeo Racing	1:15.606			9