Gearbox penalty may cost Leclerc pole
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MONTE CARLO • In what was a dramatic conclusion to qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix yesterday, home favourite Charles Leclerc crashed at the end of the third session but still managed to put his Ferrari on pole position.
The 23-year-old halted qualifying 18 seconds from the end after smashing into the barriers, having already set the fastest time of 1min 10.346sec.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who finished 0.23sec behind, will line up alongside him on the front row and could inherit pole if Leclerc's car needs a gearbox change and incurs a grid penalty.
Mercedes' seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton qualified only seventh.
"It's a shame to finish in the wall, it doesn't feel the same," said Leclerc, who secured his eighth career pole. "But at the same time I'm incredibly happy about my lap.
"I could feel I was quite emotional in the car - now it's Q3, now it's time to put everything together. I managed to do so and I'm incredibly happy.
"It's tomorrow that we score points but we are incredibly surprised to be on pole and fourth place (teammate Carlos Sainz) for the race tomorrow."
His mechanics will face a long night carrying out repairs in the allotted time if Leclerc is not to pick up a penalty and lose his position at the head of the grid.
When he crashed, he was ahead of Verstappen on the track just when the 23-year-old Dutchman had set the session's fastest time in the first sector.
The session was not restarted, which meant Leclerc's lap from early in Q3 stood as the pole time.
"It was all going really well but the red flag ruined the chance for pole. Nevertheless I think, so far, it's a good weekend. It's just a shame there was a red flag," said Verstappen, who is 14 points behind championship leader Hamilton (94) ahead of today's iconic street race.
With overtaking difficult on Monaco's tight and twisting circuit, Hamilton's chances of moving up to 99 grand prix wins look compromised. The Briton has won three of four races this term.
His teammate Valtteri Bottas qualified in third alongside Sainz in the other Ferrari.
"It's disappointing I didn't get my last run with the red flag, that's how it is sometimes," said Bottas.
"We'll try everything we can tomorrow, it's Monaco - anything can happen."
McLaren's Lando Norris qualified in fifth, while Pierre Gasly of AlphaTauri was in sixth.
Sebastian Vettel of Aston Martin was eighth ahead of Red Bull's Sergio Perez and Antonio Giovinazzi, who gave Alfa Romeo their first Q3 appearance this year.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
MONACO GRAND PRIX
Main race: Singtel TV Ch114 & StarHub Ch208, 8pm
MONACO GP GRID
1ST ROW
1 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari
2 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull
2ND ROW
3 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes
4 Carlos Sainz (Esp) Ferrari
3RD ROW
5 Lando Norris (Gbr) McLaren
6 Pierre Gasly (Fra) AlphaTauri
4TH ROW
7 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes
8 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Aston Martin
5TH ROW
9 Sergio Perez (Mex) Red Bull
10 Antonio Giovinazzi (Ita) Alfa Romeo
