MONTE CARLO: Charles Leclerc of Ferrari crashed in the final minute of qualifying on Saturday but secured pole position for his Monaco home Grand Prix.
The Monegasque clocked 1 minute 10.346 seconds around the tight 3.337-kilometre street circuit of Monte Carlo before hitting the wall and bringing out the red flag which ended the session and denied others possibly bettering his time.
Max Verstappen of Red Bull finished 0.230 second behind in second. Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes completed the top three for Mercedes, while team-mate Lewis Hamilton struggled for pace and will be only seventh.
It was Ferrari’s and Leclerc’s first pole position since the Mexican Grand Prix in 2019.
“It’s a shame to finish in the wall, but at the same time, I’m crazy happy about my first lap,” Leclerc said. “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,” Leclerc said. He touched the inside barrier at the chicane, which sent him straight on into the wall.
It remains to be seen whether the gearbox was damaged and will need to be changed which would earn him a five-place grid penalty as gearboxes must be used for five consecutive events.
“We are worried, we are checking it — it is too early to tell,” Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto said.
Such a scenario would leave Verstappen on pole on Sunday on a course where overtaking is all but impossible, and the Dutchman needs a win to boost his title hopes as he sits second in the drivers’ championship, 14 points behind leader Hamilton.
“It was going really well, the red flag ruined the chance for pole. Nevertheless, a very good weekend so far,” Verstappen said.
In the other Ferrari car, Carlos Sainz will start the race in fourth, followed by Lando Norris of McLaren in fifth and Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly in sixth, all ahead of Hamilton.
“Need to go back to the drawing board, we’re definitely having problems today. Saturday is the day, for sure the win is out of reach,” Hamilton admitted.
Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel of Aston Martin will be a season-best eighth, while two-time world champion Fernando Alonso of Alpine didn’t make it to Q2.
Rookie driver Mick Schumacher will need dispensation from the stewards to start the race after he missed qualifying in the wake of a crash in final practice.
His Haas car suffered huge damage when he crashed into the barriers in third practice on the exit of the Casino Square section and the team was unable to repair it in the two hours between the practice session and qualifying.
After being removed from the calendar last season due to the coronavirus pandemic, this year Monaco has limited attendance to 7,500 people per day with stands filled to up to 40 per cent of capacity. — dpa
Rookie driver Mick Schumacher will need dispensation from the stewards to start the race after he missed qualifying in the wake of a crash in final practice
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