Max Verstappen beats out Fernando Alonso to earn pole for F1’s Monaco Grand Prix

Max Verstappen has never held the pole in Monaco, and for much of the session it looked like that streak would continue.

With pole on the line in the third round of qualifying, Verstappen’s first two laps just didn’t look fast enough, with his second ending up slower than Estaban Ocon, local favorite Charles Leclerc, and Fernando Alonso. Verstappen’s barnstorming third lap, though, was enough to finally secure that maiden Monaco pole.

“Yeah, I’m very happy,” Verstappen said. “We knew that this was going to be a little bit of struggle for us this weekend, to get everything together. Yesterday wasn’t the best start, but I think we kept on improving and kept on getting better.”

“In qualifying, you need to go all out and risk it all. My first sector wasn’t ideal on my final lap, I think Turn 1 was a bit cautious, but then I knew I was behind, so the last sector I gave it everything I had and clipped a few barriers.”

As for converting the pole to a win, “We need a clean start,” Verstappen said: “It’s a short run to Turn 1.”

“I mean, in Monaco,” he elaborated, “a lot of things can happen – Safety Car, rain, you name it, there is always a bit of chaos involved. I think race-pace wise the car is quick, so that’s not the problem, but we just need to keep it clean and calm.”

Alonso said that his massive qualifying effort was actually too much of a risk for the car, and that a good race strategy was actually to hold back on the aggression.

“I think we have to to execute the race calmly, try to put everything in place and having a good strategy, a good start, no mistakes from anybody on the team, from myself, and let’s see the final result,” he said.

Still, he’s not confident, especially at a circuit where the last pass for the lead on track happened in 1996 and not a single on-track overtake happened in 2010. Still, there’s opportunity, Alonso said.

“I think to win the race we will need some help from Max, maybe a lucky Safety Car or a bad pit stop from Red Bull. I know they are the best ones on the pit stops, but maybe one race they can have a mistake – and those kinds of things will give us an opportunity. On a normal race, I think it’s going to be very difficult.”

Though Charles Leclerc logged the third-fastest lap, a three-place grid penalty after the session means he’ll start the race in sixth. While in the tunnel section, a flat-out corner, Leclerc slowed on his out-lap to prepare to push the final corners, despite Lando Norris behind being on a hotlap. Norris was forced to evade Leclerc.

“He just blocked me, as simple as that,” the McLaren driver summed up the situation.

“A penalty for him… Disqualified or something,” Norris advocated when pressed for his thoughts. “There is one rule which is don’t slow down in the tunnel and that’s what he did, so not up to me.”

Carlos Sainz couldn’t match his Ferrari teammate and ended up with the fifth-fastest time on the board, ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Ocon’s teammate Pierre Gasly will start seventh, the first driver not impacted by Leclerc’s penalty, splitting the Mercedes teammates with Russell starting eighth. Yuki Tsunoda made his second appearance in the final round of qualifying this season, ending up ninth ahead of Lando Norris.

*Leclerc awarded a three-place grid penalty and will start sixth.

• About
• Latest Posts

Owen Johnson

Owen Johnson is a lifelong car enthusiast and passionate fan of motorsports. He’s written about the sport for years, starting at DriveTribe, where he managed NASCAR content. He's now Associate Editor at CupScene and Caraganza.

Latest posts by Owen Johnson (see all)

• Lola will returns to racing with a Formula E entry - March 28, 2024
• Doriane Pin impresses Mercedes team with dominant F1 Academy debut - March 8, 2024
• Lewis Hamilton announces move to Ferrari shocking F1 and the world - February 1, 2024

Comments

comments