Charles Leclerc had dominated practice raising hopes for Ferrari that he or Lewis Hamilton might be able to snatch pole from Max Verstappen or the McLaren drivers
Charles Leclerc though he had secured a fourth career pole position at the Monaco Grand Prix – until Lando Norris denied the home hero. The McLaren man’s quickest time was good enough not only for the top grid slot for Sunday’s race but also to set a new track record for the Monte Carlo street circuit.
It took less than 70 seconds for Norris to complete his final flying lap on Saturday. It was some way for the Brit to rediscover his best qualifying form after a run of disappointing results when it comes to setting the grid for races in recent weeks.
But Norris was inch-perfect to get the better of Leclerc and make sure McLaren will line up first on Sunday. And Oscar Piastri made sure the Ferrari man will be in a Papaya sandwich as he bids to win his home race in successive seasons.
Lewis Hamilton found good pace to qualify fourth, one place ahead of Max Verstappen. However, the seven-time F1 champion is at risk of a grid penalty after getting in the way of the Red Bull racer in the early stages of qualifying, with both called to visit the stewards.
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Elsewhere, it was a miserable day for Mercedes who saw both drivers failed to make the top 10. Kimi Antonelli crashed in Q1 while George Russell suffered an electrical issue which forced him to pull over and denied him the chance to compete for a place in Q3.
Oliver Bearman knew he wasn’t going to be starting very high up the grid after copping a 10-place grid penalty for failing to promptly slow for red flags during practice. And he knew he was guaranteed last place on the grid when he suffered a Q1 exit, just 17th on the timesheets.
He might have made the cut had he not had to abandon his final flying lap, along with many others, because of that Antonelli crash. The Italian misjudged the entry to the chicane at the end of the famous tunnel section and caught the barrier on the left side of the car, which led to him going straight on and burying the front of the Mercedes.
Pierre Gasly, Lance Stroll and Franco Colapinto were all slower than Bearman but will rise one place each because of the Haas driver’s penalty. And Sauber racer Gabriel Bortoleto was the other driver who missed the cut in Q1.
There was almost another crash when Verstappen was forced to abort a flying lap when he came across the slow-moving Ferrari of Hamilton. “F*** Lewis!” he fumed over the radio, while the Brit was angry with his race engineer for giving him conflicting information about how quickly the Red Bull was travelling.
Antonelli’s crash meant he could do no better than 15th place. And team-mate Russell also failed to make a bid for the top 10 as he suffered a mechanical issue and came to a stop inside the tunnel, leading to the session being red flagged for a second time as he tried but failed to get the Mercedes going again.
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That meant there were only three elimination places remaining. Nico Hulkenberg, who had done well to get through to Q2, was an unsurprising 13th but there were two more scalps as Yuki Tsunoda was only 12th fastest in the Red Bull and Carlos Sainz will have been disappointed to have not made it into the top 10 either.
Leclerc cut a disappointed figure as he climbed out of his Ferrari, despite admitting it was “the best we could do”. But he still got a huge cheer from his fellow Monegasques despite missing out on top spot to Norris in the end.