It is the day of the Resurrection even though it is not Easter. Charles Leclerc takes an amazing pole in qualifying for the Monaco GP, giving the Prancing Horse its 250th pole start: the Ferrari driver gave an example of his crystalline talent, because. he went into qualifying with a different engine after a problem with a sensor emerged. On the streets of his home, the Monegasque wins his third pole position in Monte Carlo and is a candidate for tomorrow’s success after having signed the 24th pole position of his career, joining two champions such as Niki Lauda and Nelson Piquet. Charles was left empty-handed from Ls Vegas 2023 and had to return to a circuit with a green carpet to see the Scuderia rejoice on Saturday.
Charles with the Ferrari SF-24 came within a whisker of the absolute track record that has stood with Lewis Hamilton since 2019. The Prince with the soft tires reached 1’12″270 and was less than a tenth away from setting the new one. record. Ferrari wasn’t as interested in the time as it was in the position on the track and the red team can also count on the third position of the Spaniard, who pays 248 thousandths of a second from his teammate and seems resigned to the idea of helping the Monegasque to break the “curse”. Munich.
Oscar Piastri with the McLaren painted yellow and green in honor of Ayrton Senna wedged himself between the two reds, paying a gap of just 154 thousandths despite a couple of small mistakes that didn’t make the Australian’s lap perfect.
The team directed by Andrea Stella is constant in always putting a nacchina in a position to challenge those who start in front. Even in Imola it would have been Oscar’s turn to go after Verstappen, but Piastri had deserved a three-place penalty. In Monaco they wanted to take back what they missed in Emilia Romagna, leaving Lando Norris fifth behind.
The first six were collected within a couple of tenths and Mercedes can also enjoy it as it brought George Russell to fifth position with a W15 equipped with a different front wing, designed to try to understand what the aerodynamic problem was that besets the black arrow -silver. The Englishman was overtaken by Norris by a thousandth of a second, but the Brackley team, on a track that is usually difficult at La Stella, showed the first real signs of awakening. Lewis Hamilton with a more traditional car is seventh immediately behind Max Verstappen.
The Dutchman didn’t perform a miracle today. Indeed, in an attempt to shave off a few thousandths with a Red Bull that wasn’t at the top, he leaned on the barriers exiting Saint Devote: the three-time world champion was relegated to the third row with a sixth place which testifies to the difficulties in setting up the RB20 despite the presence of Adrian Newey in the Milton Keynes garage. Max made a small mistake to go over the car’s limit (Sergio Perez is only in 18th place!).
Yuki Tsunoda continues his positive sequence with Racing Bull: he is excellent eighth on the grid, confirming his solid performances throughout the weekend. Alexander Albon also smiles in ninth place with a Williams that is anything but irresistible. Among the heroes of the day it is right to include Pierre Gasly: the Frenchman takes Alpine to Q3, after a sensational fifth place overall in Q2. He wants to stay in the Enstone team and seems intent on taking the team on his shoulders.
Esteban Ocon remains out of Q3 with the second Alpine: the Frenchman precedes Nico Hulkenberg with the Haas.
The German, despite himself, is destined to lose three positions on the grid due to an impiding to the detriment of Ocon at the Casino corner, while Kevin Magnussen finished 15th, i.e. last of Q2.
Daniel Ricciardo complained about having badly exploited the first train in the middle section, the fact is that the Australian continues to pay a significant gap towards Tsunoda who was faster by four tenths.
Lance Stroll is 14th with Aston Martin: the Canadian entered the second stage and couldn’t hope for much more with an AMR24 that wasn’t very comfortable on the streets of the Principality. For Lance, it was enough to have been ahead of his teammate.
Q1 eliminates two great protagonists: Fernando Alonso with Aston Martin does not pass the first trap, placing himself in 16th place. The Spaniard pays three tenths of a second from Stroll who passes easily with the AMR24 revised after Imola. The Asturian paid for the traffic after the Rascasse, but his exclusion remains incredible.
Behind the “green girl” is Logan Sargeant with the Williams: the American was fooled into position by Alonso for 1 thousandth of a second. Sergio Perez’s 18th position with Red Bull is even more surprising: the Mexican paid only three tenths of his teammate, in a grid that was very short. This compromised position will contribute to calling into question the confirmation of Checo who is recording a collapse in his performances like last year.
The two Saubers occupying the last row are doing badly: Valtteri Bottas’s only satisfaction was that he got behind his teammate Guanyu Zhou, but the updates brought didn’t give much…
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