Lando Norris sets a new track record to take the first Monaco Grand Prix pole position of his career, beating out Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Q1
Being a street track, Monaco naturally sees a lot of track evolution throughout qualifying, and with how difficult it is to drive, the teams effectively treat it like a wet session, having their drivers consistently set laps to build confidence.
This means that there is a lot of cars all out on track all throughout Q1, which can lead to difficulty with traffic. In this session, Stroll, who already has a one place grid penalty for causing Leclerc’s front wing to break in practice, was seen seemingly impeding Pierre Gasly.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli cause Q1 to end early after kissing the inside of the Nouvelle Chicane, damaging his suspension and putting the car into the barrier. As he was outside of the bottom 5, this means he will be starting the race from 15th.
ELIMINATED
16. Gabriel Bortoleto – Sauber +0.022
17. Oliver Bearman – Haas+0.099
18. Pierre Gasly – Alpine+0.114
19. Lance Stroll – Aston Martin +0.573
20. Franco Colapinto – Alpine +0.717
Q2
Mercedes’ nightmare qualifying continued in Q2 as George Russell had went over a bump and received an issue with what appeared to be his battery, which saw him lose power and be forced to stop in the tunnel, bringing out another red flag.
Some teams had been experimenting with the medium tyres to try and mitigate any issues of overheating, with Fernando Alonso managing to take his Aston Martin through to Q3 on a set of the yellow walled tyres.
A contrasting set of results for the drivers at both Red Bull and Williams, as while Verstappen and Albon were able to make it through to the final session in relatively comfortable fashion, Tsunoda and Sainz were each eliminated at this point, getting outqualified by a delighted Ocon at Haas.
ELIMINATED
11. Carlos Sainz – Williams +0.100
12. Yuki Tsunoda – Red Bull +0.153
13. Nico Hulkenberg – Sauber +0.334
14. George Russell – Mercedes NO TIME
15. Kimi Antonelli – Mercedes NO TIME
Q3
Leclerc had set the pace all weekend, which made him favourite to take pole position, although it would be McLaren who would draw first blood.
After their initial runs, McLaren sent out their drivers much earlier than anyone else, giving them the benefit of free air and the chance to go again if they needed to. Norris was able to just edge out Piastri on their first runs in this stint by just 15 milliseconds.
However, Ferrari were still looking strong, and while Hamilton was able to challenge for pole, Leclerc had managed to put in a great lap to snatch it out of Norris’ hands for a moment.
However, Norris would come back once again to take a tenth off of Leclerc’s time, setting a lap record in the process of getting pole position. Piastri was unable to put up as much of a fight in his final lap, and will start tomorrow’s race in third.
Qualifying results
1. Lando Norris – McLaren 1:09.954
2. Charles Leclerc – Ferrari +0.109
3. Oscar Piastri – McLaren +0.175
4. Lewis Hamilton – Ferrari +0.428
5. Max Verstappen – Red Bull +0.715
6. Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls +0.969
7. Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin- +0.970
8. Esteban Ocon – Haas +0.988
9. Liam Lawson – Racing Bulls +1.175
10. Alex Albon – Williams +1.259
