Leclerc secures pole position in Monaco; Verstappen sixth

Charles Leclerc beat Oscar Piastri to take his third pole at the Monaco Grand Prix, while Max Verstappen failed to set a record for consecutive poles after a slight collision with the wall.

Leclerc dominated Friday and Saturday sessions in Monaco, increasing his speed to achieve a time of 1m10.270s, a tenth off Lewis Hamilton's record set in 2019. "The feeling after a qualifying lap here is always special," Leclerc commented. "I'm very happy with the lap. Qualifying isn't everything, although it helps for Sunday’s race, we need to put everything together tomorrow."

Oscar Piastri from McLaren came very close to Leclerc but was slightly behind in the battle for pole.

Problems for Verstappen and Sainz in third place

Max Verstappen had difficulties throughout the weekend with his Red Bull in the last two sectors, and eventually made an error in the first sector of his final lap, grazing the barrier at the exit of Sainte Devote. This forced him to abort his lap, resulting in a drop in the starting order.

Carlos Sainz secured third place, while Lando Norris was fourth after recovering from a tough Q1. George Russell also outperformed Verstappen, showing better form for Mercedes over the weekend in Monaco. Lewis Hamilton couldn’t surpass the Dutchman and finished seventh.

Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez eliminated in Q1

Yuki Tsunoda finished eighth, followed by Alex Albon, who made an out-of-sequence lap in Q3 to place ninth. Pierre Gasly completed the top 10, edging out his teammate Esteban Ocon in Q2.

Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez were eliminated in Q1. Alonso was exposed by not being able to set a competitive lap, falling to 16th place. Perez, after spending most of the session at the back of the order, couldn’t improve his position, finishing behind Logan Sargeant. The Sauber drivers, Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu, closed the classification.