Dutch driver Max Verstappen (Red Bull) won the first pole position of his career at Formula 1’s Monaco Grand Prix on Saturday, by being fastest in qualifying for Sunday’s race.
Verstappen set the best time in 1.11.365 minutes, stealing the first place on the grid from Spaniard Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) by 0.084 seconds, with local Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) in third, at 0.106 seconds from the world champion.
This was the 23rd pole of Max Verstappen’s career, third of the season, having already taken the top position on the grid in Bahrain and Australia.
The current championship leader started by watching his team-mate, Mexican Sérgio Pérez (Red Bull), crash into the protective barriers of the Monegask circuit in the first phase of qualifying, where Sunday’s sixth race of the season took place. takes place.
Pérez came in too quickly on the right side of Sainte Devote, released the rear guard and crashed violently into the barrier, halting the session.
The Mexican will thus start from last position for a GP he won in 2022, in a race that marked the relationship with Verstappen at the time.
The Dutchman suspected that Pérez deliberately went off course in the last minutes of qualifying to hurt him.
The closing minutes of today’s session also kept spectators on edge, with several riders working their way to the front of the timesheets.
Frenchman Esteban Ocon (Alpine) even led the session, but Fernando Alonso threatened to regain pole position 11 years later. His 22nd and last win to date was at the 2012 German GP with Ferrari.
But Verstappen fell back a tenth of a second from his first attempt in Q3’s second attempt, the last of the three stages of the qualifying session, knocking the Spanish driver off the top of the standings. has been removed.
Charles Leclerc, playing at home, even bettered Ocon’s time and will start from third on the grid, ahead of the Frenchman, who was fourth.
Spaniard Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) took fifth place and will start from the third row, alongside Briton Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), who finished sixth.
Mercedes brought to the Principality’s race the main changes it will introduce to its single-seater this season, especially in terms of aerodynamics.
The German team abandoned the concept introduced last year, with a narrower body than rivals, and now adopted large sides, a Red Bull brand image and already copied by other teams such as Aston Martin and Alpine.
Frenchman Pierre Gasly (Alpine) was seventh, ahead of Britain’s George Russell (Mercedes), who was eighth.
Japan’s Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri) and Britain’s Lando Norris (McLanren) completed the top 10.
The Monaco Formula 1 GP is the sixth race of the season but the seventh on the calendar following the cancellation of the Italian GP due to heavy rains that hit the Emilia Romana region last week.
Max Verstappen is the championship leader, with 119 points, 14 more than Sérgio Pérez.
Source: DN
