He had never started on pole on the Rock before: Max Verstappen (Red Bull) will start on Sunday from pole position in the Monaco Grand Prix, sixth round of the Formula 1 championship, after setting the fastest qualifying time on Saturday at Fernando Alonso, second. On the Monegasque track bathed in sunshine, the pole position was played in the very last moments, but at the finish, “Mad Max” honored his rank as leader in the championship under the nose and the beard of the double world champion Spanish.
“In qualifying you have to give it your all and risk it all,” said the Dutchman. The “all for all”, Verstappen has indeed risked it well since in the last moments of qualifying, the defending champion, then 5th, embarked on a fast lap during which he will touch the safety barriers twice… to come and take 84/1000 from Alonso, to whom pole seemed promised.
Charles Leclerc in third position
Behind, encouraged by banners “Daghe Charles!” (“Allez Charles!” in local patois) hanging from the balconies overlooking the route, the native Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) will start 3rd. “I am not satisfied with this 3rd position but on the other hand, we must also look at our situation with the car”, reacted the Monegasque, who was aiming for a third consecutive pole position in F1 here, at home.
The vice-champion in title is however the subject of an investigation by the commissioners for having hampered the Briton Lando Norris (McLaren), launched in a fast lap. If he keeps his position, Leclerc will start alongside Frenchman Esteban Ocon (Alpine), who, with a better time to clinch the first pole of his career, assured “having released all the horses on the last lap as it was necessary ( …), it didn’t come to much”. “We did a very good qualifying, we are happy. This gives us hope for tomorrow”, Sunday, he declared at the microphone of Canal +.
Perez in the wall
The second Ferrari on the grid, that of Spaniard Carlos Sainz, will start 5th. Big loser of the day, Sergio Pérez, victorious here last year, will start at the back of the grid. The Mexican hit a wall with his Red Bull during the first part of qualifying (Q1), damaging his car too heavily to start again. These qualifications were particularly important in the narrow streets of the Principality, where overtaking is generally difficult – and all the more important as the rain could enter the race on Sunday.
In the championship, Verstappen is 14 points ahead (119 pts) over Pérez (105 pts). Alonso, “the best of the others”, is in provisional third place, 44 behind the leader. The Monegasque stage, a historic F1 event, is an opportunity for several teams, like Mercedes, to test new improvements initially expected last weekend in Emilia-Romagna. But this one could not run because of the floods which affected this region of northern Italy.
The eight-time constructors’ world champion team arrived on the Rock with a largely modified W14, definitively abandoning its “zero pontoon” concept implemented last year at the dawn of the new technical regulations, but having kept at a distance from the top of the hierarchy. Sunday at 3 p.m. local time, its drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell will start 6th and 8th on the grid. Between the two Britons, the Frenchman Pierre Gasly (Alpine) will start. Mercedes is currently the 3rd provisional force on the board behind Red Bull and Aston Martin but ahead of Ferrari.