F1 Monaco GP: Leclerc beats Piastri to crucial pole

Monegasque Leclerc dazzled throughout the Friday and Saturday sessions in Monaco, and built up his speed over the sessions to eventually land on a 1m10.270s - a tenth shy of Lewis Hamilton's record pole time set in 2019.

"It was nice, the feeling after a qualifying lap is always very special here," Leclerc said. "I'm really happy about the lap.

"Qualifying is not everything, as much as it helps Sunday's race we need to put it all together tomorrow.

"I need a good launch and when we do that, hopefully Carlos [Sainz] can follow me and put us in a 1-2. If we are 1-2 we can control the race."

McLaren's Piastri ran the Ferrari driver close and became the closest competitor to Leclerc, but was just shy of gazumping him in the battle for pole.

Verstappen struggled throughout the weekend with the ride of his Red Bull throughout the final two sectors, but ultimately came unstuck in the opening sector of his final lap where he narrowly survived a scuffle with the Sainte Devote exit barrier. This nonetheless forced the championship leader to abort his lap, and he thus suffered a drop down the order.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Carlos Sainz grabbed third place, while Lando Norris made it into the top four after recovering from a late breakout from the Q1 relegation zone.

George Russell also outqualified Verstappen as Mercedes seemed in stronger form throughout the Monaco weekend thus far, although Hamilton could not quite leapfrog the Dutchman and had to be content with seventh.

Yuki Tsunoda took eighth over Alex Albon, who ran off-sequence in Q3 to claim a lap good enough for ninth, as Pierre Gasly completed the top 10.

Gasly knocked out Alpine team-mate Esteban Ocon in Q2 with a late lap that booked the ex-AlphaTauri driver's place in the top 10 shoot-out. Ocon joined Nico Hulkenberg, Daniel Ricciardo, Lance Stroll, and Kevin Magnussen in the bottom five of the intermediate session.

Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez were the biggest scalps claimed in Q1, as both drivers were left exposed towards the end of the session by their inability to find a competitive lap.

Alonso's final lap initially set him into 13th, but he slipped down the order as a host of other drivers shook off the pressure to improve at the death of the 18-minute session. This thrust the Aston Martin driver, who came within a whisker of securing pole last year, down into 16th.

Perez spent the majority of the session floundering towards the back of the order and, after falling into the drop zone, could not climb out as his final lap of the session failed to yield performance.

The two were separated by Logan Sargeant, as Sauber duo Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu propped up the order.

F1 Monaco GP Qualifying Results

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Time	km/h
1	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16		Ferrari	Ferrari	1'10.270	170.957
2	O. Piastri McLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	+0.154 1'10.424	170.583
3	C. Sainz Ferrari	55		Ferrari	Ferrari	+0.248 1'10.518	170.356
4	L. Norris McLaren	4		McLaren	Mercedes	+0.272 1'10.542	170.298
5	G. Russell Mercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	+0.273 1'10.543	170.296
6	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1		Red Bull	Red Bull	+0.297 1'10.567	170.238
7	L. Hamilton Mercedes	44		Mercedes	Mercedes	+0.351 1'10.621	170.108
8	Y. Tsunoda RB	22		RB	Red Bull	+0.588 1'10.858	169.539
9	A. Albon Williams	23		Williams	Mercedes	+0.678 1'10.948	169.324
10	P. Gasly Alpine	10		Alpine	Renault	+1.041 1'11.311	168.462
11	E. Ocon Alpine	31		Alpine	Renault	+1.015 1'11.285	168.523
12	N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team	27		Haas	Ferrari	+1.170 1'11.440	168.157
13	D. Ricciardo RB	3		RB	Red Bull	+1.212 1'11.482	168.059
14	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18		Aston Martin	Mercedes	+1.293 1'11.563	167.868
15	K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team	20		Haas	Ferrari	+1.455 1'11.725	167.489
16	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14		Aston Martin	Mercedes	+1.749 1'12.019	166.805
17	L. Sargeant Williams	2		Williams	Mercedes	+1.750 1'12.020	166.803
18	S. Perez Red Bull Racing	11		Red Bull	Red Bull	+1.790 1'12.060	166.711
19	V. Bottas Sauber	77		Sauber	Ferrari	+2.242 1'12.512	165.671
20	Z. Guanyu Sauber	24		Sauber	Ferrari	+2.758 1'13.028	164.501
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