#MonacoGP Qualifying: @CharlesLeclerc clinches pole despite crash. #F1

Charles Leclerc claimed his eighth-career pole in qualifying at the Monaco GP in odd circumstances as he crashed with seconds remaining on the clock in Q3, preventing any of his rivals having their chance to improve.

Leclerc took provisional pole with a 1:10.346 after the initial flyers in the final qualifying stage, where the drivers were taking a few warm-up laps to get their rubber up to optimal temperatures.

Leclerc was ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen by 0.230 seconds, with the latter leading his other nine rivals around the Circuit De Monaco to start their last hot laps.

Verstappen had just posted the quickest first sector effort when, in-front of him on the track and about to finish his final flying lap of the session, Leclerc hit the inside wall at the second part of the Swimming Pool chicane.

This broke the Ferrari’s front-right suspension and sent the SF21 into the barrier on the outside, with the red flags brought out with over ten seconds left in the session.

Q3 was not restarted, which meant Leclerc’s lap from the initial flyers in Q3 stood as the pole time giving the Monegasque-youngster his first pole position since the 2019 Mexican Grand Prix, the question remains will his gearbox be ok? If damaged, a gearbox change will see Leclerc drop five places to sixth.

Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas ended up third behind Verstappen.

The other Ferrari of Carlos Sainz was fourth, with McLaren’s Lando Norris fifth – as the Briton took a different approach in the third segment by running in the middle of the session and returning to the pits ahead of the final flyers.

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly qualified fifth and ahead of championship leader Lewis Hamilton taking seventh in his Mercedes.

Hamilton struggled with over-steer throughout qualifying, never looking like he’ll threatening the top places, at one stage in Q3 the Briton appeared to clip the barrier at Portier.

Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel finished Q3 in eighth place in-front of the other Red Bull RB16B of Sergio Perez who was ninth and Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi who will start 10th.

In the middle segment, Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon qualified in 11th and ahead of McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo who was 12th and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll who took 13th.

Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen wound up 14th and Williams Racing’s George Russell was the slowest of the Q2 runners in 15th.

In Q3, Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda was the quickest of the eliminatees and will start 16th of the grid and in-front of Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso who was 17th.

Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi qualified in 18th place in-front of Uralkali Haas F1 Team’s Nikita Mazepin who was 19th.

The other Haas of Mick Schumacher did not take part in qualifying after suffering a heavy shunt near the end of FP3 at Casino Square.

You can read the full Formula 1 Grand Prix De Monaco 2021 Qualifying Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1067/monaco/qualifying.html

2021 Monaco GP Qualifying – The Top Three

Pole Position – Charles Leclerc, #16, Scuderia Ferrari, SF21:

“It’s a shame to finish in the wall, but at the same time, I’m crazy happy about my first lap. Second, and third sector – I nailed it. It’s a bit of a surprise for everyone [in the team] to be on pole, but I’ve always been very unlucky here, so let’s see.”

2nd Place – Max Verstappen, #33, Red Bull Racing-Honda, RB16B:

“I felt really comfortable, I was really building up to it. It was going really well, the red flag ruined the chance for pole. Nevertheless, a very good weekend so far. It was working out well…”

3rd Place – Valtteri Bottas, #77, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, F1 W12 E-Performance:

“It’s Monaco, anything can happen.”

In the earlier Free Practice 3 session, it was Verstappen on top of the time-sheets ahead of Ferrari pairing Sainz and Leclerc who were second and third respectively, as Bottas and Perez rounded out the top five. Haas F1 Team’s Schumacher suffered a heavy crash at the exit of Casino Square near the end of session bringing out the red flags, meaning the German missed qualifying. You can see the full Formula 1 Grand Prix De Monaco 2021 Free Practice 3 Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1067/monaco/practice-3.html

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