He had never started from pole position on the rock before: Max Verstappen (Red Bull) will start on pole position for Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix, round 6 of the Formula 1 championship, after he had lost the best qualifying time at Fernando Alonso on Saturday. 2.
On the sun-drenched Monegasque track, pole position was decided in the final moments, but at the finish, under the double world champion’s nose and beard, “Mad Max” lived up to his rank as championship leader.
Quebec’s Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) starts from 14th place.
“In qualifying you have to give everything and risk everything,” said the Dutchman.
The ‘everyone’, Verstappen actually risked it because in the final moments of qualifying the defending champion, then fifth, started a fast lap that will see him touch the safety barriers twice… to come and get 84/ . 1000 from Alonso, who seemed promised the pole.
Behind, encouraged by banners reading “Daghe Charles! » (“Go Charles!” in local Patois) hangs on the balconies overlooking the track. Local boy Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) will start third.
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“I’m not satisfied with this third place, but on the other hand we also have to consider our situation with the car,” reacted the Monegasque, who was aiming for a third consecutive pole position in Formula 1 here at home.
However, the reigning runner-up is under investigation by the stewards for interfering with Britain’s Lando Norris (McLaren), who was thrown into a fast lap
If he maintains his position, Leclerc will start alongside Frenchman Esteban Ocon (Alpine), who, setting a better time to take the first pole of his career, affirmed “on the last lap, we released all the horses, like it was necessary (…), it didn’t do much”.
“We did a very good qualifying, we are satisfied. It gives us hope for tomorrow,” he said on the Canal+ microphone on Sunday.
Perez in the wall
The second Ferrari on the grid, that of Spaniard Carlos Sainz, will start from 5th place.
The big loser of the day, Sergio Pérez, who was victorious here last year, will start at the bottom of the grid. The Mexican crashed his Red Bull into a wall in the first part of qualifying (Q1) and damaged his car so badly that it couldn’t start.
These qualifications were particularly important in the principality’s narrow streets, where overtaking is generally difficult – and all the more important given the risk of rain on Sunday.
In the championship, Verstappen has a 14-point lead (119 points) over Pérez (105 points). Alonso, “the best of the rest”, is provisionally in third place, 44 points behind the leader.
The Monaco stage, a historic F1 event, is an opportunity for several teams including Mercedes to test new improvements that were initially expected in Emilia-Romagna last weekend. However, due to the flooding in this region of northern Italy, this could not be carried out.
The eight-time World Constructors’ Champion team hit the rocks with a largely modified W14, abandoning their ‘zero pontoon’ concept introduced last year at the start of the new technical regulations for good, but staying away from the top hierarchy.
At 3 p.m. local time on Sunday, drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell will start from sixth and eighth on the grid. Frenchman Pierre Gasly (Alpine) starts between the two Brits.
Mercedes is currently the third interim force on the panel, behind Red Bull and Aston Martin but ahead of Ferrari.