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Charles Leclerc and Ferrari secure pole position for the 2021 Monaco Grand Prix

22 May 2021 at 15:00
Last update 22 May 2021 at 15:04
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  • Matt Gretton
  • Editor-in-Chief

Charles Leclerc has qualified on pole position at his home Formula 1 race for the first time in his career. The Ferrari car has been strong in the streets of Monte Carlo with the Scuderia securing pole for their first time since Mexico 2019. Leclerc crashed in the barriers in the final minute of qualifying bringing out the red flag to end the session. 

Verstappen will start from the front row, with Valtteri Bottas rounding out the top three. Carlos Sainz will start from 4th. 

The battle for the 2021 Drivers World Championship could take another turn in Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix with it being notoriously difficult to overtake. Lewis Hamilton will start from seventh whilst rival Verstappen starts from P2. 

After the first run in Q3, Leclerc led the way with a 0.230-second gap to Verstappen in P2. Sainz was quick enough to beat both Mercedes driver for P3. Verstappen came out of the pits early for his second run with a small threat of rain on the horizon. But hardly any drivers found improvements and the session ended under red flags. 

Q1

With the Mercedes car looking difficult to drive during the final practice session, the pit crew were busy working on Bottas' car to find the right balance set-up. Mick Schumacher couldn't drive in the qualifying session due to a crash in FP3, whilst Nicholas Latifi just made it out in time with the Williams mechanics fixing his car. 

After the first flurry of laps, Mazepin, Ocon and the two Williams drivers found themselves in the drop zone. Once again, it looked like the battle at the top was between Ferrari and Red Bull, but Lando Norris joined the party. At the halfway point, Bottas found himself in P1 as the first driver into the 1:10's. Alonso, Tsunoda and Raikkonen were in danger. 

The top of order remained the same but a number of drivers dipped down into the elimination zone with the track improving rapidly. Mazepin, Latifi, Alonso and Tsunoda failed to improve enough to reach the top 15. 

OUT - P16 - Tsunoda, P17 - Alonso, P18 - Latifi, P19 - Mazepin, P20 - Schumacher [No time]

Q2

Four different teams found themselves in the elimination zone at the halfway point in Q2. The two Alfa Romeo drivers were joined by Stroll, Ocon and Russell. Verstappen led the way at the top, with the two Ferrari drivers less than 0.300 seconds behind. Norris produced a fast enough lap to beat both Mercedes car. 

Stroll hit the walls but managed to keep running. Reports of rain came through on the team radios, but it appeared to be only extremely light. Whilst Norris stayed in the top five, his new teammate Daniel Ricciardo was eliminated with Giovinazzi escaping the drop zone. 

OUT - P11 - Ocon, P12 - Ricciardo, P13 - Stroll, P14 - Raikkonen, P15 - Russell