© Vladimir RysFront Row Start For Max In MonacoBulls qualify second and ninth for tomorrow's Monaco Grand Prix.
With the session’s fastest time under his belt thanks to his opening run of the top-10 shootout, the Monégasque driver secured Ferrari’s first pole since 2019 and Max had to settle for his 18th front-row start.
Let's Go Street Racing© Getty Images
In Q1, with drivers needing several laps to get the most out of their soft tyres, the times tumbled rapidly in the early stages of the session. But eventually it was Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas who took control at the top of the order, with the Finn setting a session-best time of 1:10.938, around eight-hundredths of a second ahead of Leclerc.
Max eased through to Q2 in third thanks to a lap of 1:11.124. Sergio also made light work of the opening segment, progressing in eighth with a lap of 1:11.644.
At the other end of the order there was no place in the middle segment of qualifying for AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda. The Japanese driver missed out on a Q2 berth by just 0.018s, pipped by Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel.
Eliminated behind Tsunoda were Alpine’s Fernando Alonso in P17 ahead of Williams’ Nicholas Latifi and Haas’ Nikita Mazepin. Haas’ Mick Schumacher failed to take part in the session due to the severity of the damage caused to his car by a crash late in FP3.
A similar pattern emerged in the first runs of Q2 with Max eventually leading the way with a lap of 1:10.650. That remained the benchmark until the second runs when Leclerc found a sliver of time to edge the Dutchman out of top spot with a lap of 1:10.597. Behind Max, Bottas went through to Q3 in third place ahead of Sainz.
After the first runs Sergio found himself in eighth behind Hamilton, seven-tenths off the pace, but in the final run he made a good step forward and claimed fifth with a lap of 1:11.019. That put him ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and a clearly uncomfortable Hamilton.
At the end of Q2 Esteban Ocon was eliminated in P11 ahead of McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen and Williams’ George Russell.
Max Ready For A Monaco Battle© Getty Images
At the start of Q3, Max set a solid time of 1:10.576 on his opening flyer of Q3 and then prepared for another. His second effort was scrappy though and he backed off to prepare for a final effort. In the meantime, Leclerc powered to provisional pole with a lap of 1:10.346, two tenths ahead of the Dutchman.
However, on his final run, on the entry to the swimming pool section, Leclerc clipped the barrier with his front right wheel and with his steering arm broken he slid into the barriers at the exit of the corner. The red flags were immediately shown and with seconds left in the session Max was denied a final flying lap and a final shot at pole position.
Sergio was also disadvantaged. The Mexican made solid progress through the first two segments but he endured a messy Q3 in which he was hampered by traffic. And when Leclerc crashed, he too was denied a final attempt.
With Max second, third went to Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas with Carlos Sainz fourth for Ferrari. Fifth went to McLaren’s Lando Norris with AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly in an impressive sixth place.
That left seventh to Lewis Hamilton with the championship leader qualifying ahead of Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, Checo and Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi.
Max Climbs Out In P2© Getty Images
“Qualifying around here is a lot of fun. I did a decent first lap in Q3 but the tyres weren’t quite in the window and I knew it was going to come down to the last run. My last lap felt really good as I was going into the tunnel, but because of the red flag I couldn’t finish it which was frustrating as I felt so comfortable in the car and I knew pole position was on. Obviously Charles is driving very well so I knew it would be tight but everyone back at the factory and here at the track has done an amazing job to get the car to where it is now, especially after we struggled so much on Thursday.
I can be quite happy with second after that red flag and now we just need to finish off the job tomorrow!
"I think it’s been a very good weekend so far, we recovered well from practice and we’re starting on the front row tomorrow, which is the most important thing in Monaco, so it’s not too bad. I can be quite happy with second after that red flag and now we just need to finish off the job tomorrow!”
“I was making good progress throughout qualifying and then in Q3, the session I thought was going to be the smoothest, turned into the worst one. Things got really messy and it just didn’t come together. We seemed to go backwards and we didn’t make the progress we hoped or expected to.
We know how important qualifying is here in Monaco but we’ll try and do the best possible job we can to recover tomorrow.
"I was struggling a lot with the dropping temperatures so we changed our approach going into the final session and it just made it worse, and then on my final Q3 run I got traffic in the last sector so I lost the lap. We know how important qualifying is here in Monaco but we’ll try and do the best possible job we can to recover tomorrow.”
“It’s obviously slightly frustrating not to be on pole and Max was on a mighty final lap, two and a half tenths up on his best and up on Leclerc, but unfortunately with the red flag we were unable to see the end of it. Our glass is half full rather than half empty though and to be on the front row in Monaco with Lewis in P7 is hugely important for the championship fight, so we will focus on the positives rather than the negatives.
There is a real opportunity to make an impact on the championship tomorrow and we have to make the most of that.
"Sergio was just missing that last bit of confidence and was badly compromised in Q3, with three cars ahead of him at Rascasse costing him quite a bit of time. We all know he can hook it up around here and I’m sure he will have good pace in the race, but as we know it’s hard to make progress through the field so he will have a busy afternoon. There is a real opportunity to make an impact on the championship tomorrow and we have to make the most of that. So now it’s down to a good start and then it’s all to play for.”
MonacoGrandPrixQualifyingTop10
| Position | Driver | Team | Time | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Charles Leclerc | Max Verstappen | Valtteri Bottas | Carlos Sainz | Lando Norris | Pierre Gasly | Lewis Hamilton | Sebastain Vettel | Sergio Pérez | Antonio Giovinazzi |
| Ferarri | Red Bull Racing Honda | Mercedes | Ferarri | McLaren | AlphaTauri | Mercedes | Aston Martin | Red Bull Racing Honda | Alfa Romeo Racing |
| 1.10.346 | 1.10.576 | 1.10.601 | 1.10.611 | 1.10.620 | 1.10.900 | 1.11.095 | 1.11.419 | 1.11.573 | 1.11.779 |
