Lando Norris claimed pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix, producing a masterful display to thread the needle on the streets of Monte Carlo for McLaren. After a thrilling and highly competitive qualifying session that went down to the final lap, he took his first Monaco pole by beating the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc by 0.109sec into second place and his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri into third.
Lewis Hamilton had looked quick at times over the weekend but had lost his rear at Massenet and crashed into the barriers during FP3. Ferrari were able to repair the damage and he recovered to a strong fourth place. The British driver is under investigation for impedingMax Verstappenin Q1, however, and may face a grid penalty, with Hamilton frustrated his race engineer had told him the Dutchman had been slowing as he approached from behind, also at Massenet. Verstappen was fifth for Red Bull.
For Norris this was the perfect comeback after he felt disappointed and frustrated with his early season form, particularly in qualifying. The British driver has struggled to adapt to this year’sMcLarenand has found it not suited to his driving style, especially when pushed to the very edge over the single lap.
He has been insistent he remains confident in his ability and the team have been looking at how they can attune the car to accommodate Norris better, but it was an ongoing process not expected to yield an immediate turnaround. However, based on this performance on the enormously challenging Monte Carlo circuit, which demands complete commitment and ultimate precision for a quick lap, Norris was finally in the zone and might yet hope he has shrugged off his qualifying hoodoo.
It is Norris’s first pole in Monaco and only his second this season since he took the top spot at the season-opening Australian GP. It is also McLaren’s first here since 2007 when Fernando Alonso took the top spot and the team have not won here since 2008 with Hamilton at the wheel.
For all that it was a mighty lap, in an intense and thrilling session as qualifying at Monaco so often presents, the sport is hoping that it will not presage another routine lights-to-flag procession to victory, although doubtless Norris will desire the opposite.
Certainly he holds the whip hand if he can hold the lead through turn one but this year F1 has made Monaco something of a wild card. With the introduction of themandatory use of three sets of tyresduring the race, all drivers will have to take at least two pit stops, a rule the race has never previously had and which makes it very much unknown territory.
The rule was introduced in an effort to improve the race’s “sporting spectacle”, with overtaking on the narrow track rendered all but impossible by the wide and heavy cars.Last yearthis was exacerbated by an early red flag allowing a free tyre change, followed by the drivers managing their rubber in a procession to the flag in which the top 10 finished in exactly the same grid order they had begun in.
On the opening quick laps in Q3 Norris and Piastri opened strongly, claiming the top spots, and Leclerc, so strong all weekend, could not match them. Norris led with a time of 1min 10.464sec but was only six-hundredths up on his teammate, with Leclerc two-tenths back.
For the final laps the McLarens once more went out early and Norris was once more immense, quicker through the first sector and while Piastri did improve Norris had even more, taking the provisional pole by one hundredth of a second. The pair then stayed out for a cool-down lap before going again.
Leclerc, however, was far from out of it, delivering a mighty lap to take the top spot. He seemed to have done enough only for Norris to snatch it from him in the final seconds. The McLaren was superb in the final sector and at the last gasp the British driver had pole by a tenth, with a time of 1min 9.959secs.
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In what was something of a disastrous afternoon for Mercedes, George Russell went out in Q2, losing power in the tunnel with an electrical problem and came grinding to a halt, causing the session to be red-flagged and leaving him in 14th place. His teammate Kimi Antonelli had already crashed out on his final run in Q3 and finished in 15th.
The pole may prove key for the race in a closely fought title fight, where Piastri leads Norris by 13 points with Verstappen 22 points back in third.
Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson were in sixth and ninth for Racing Bulls, Fernando Alonso seventh for Aston Martin, Esteban Ocon eighth for Haas and Alex Albon 10th for Williams.
Carlos Sainz was in 11th for Williams, Yuki Tsunoda 12th forRed Bulland Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg 13th.
Gabriel Bortoleto was in 16th for Sauber and Oliver Bearman 17th for Haas but he will take a 10-place grid penalty for overtaking under a red-flag during second practice.
Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto were in 18th and 20th for Alpine and Lance Stroll was in 19th for Aston Martin but has a one-place grid penalty for causing a collision with Leclerc in first practice.