McLaren’s Lando Norris secured pole position for Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix after a storming lap, where he got the better of home favourite Charles Leclerc.
After late runs at the end of the Q3 phase, Norris executed a near-perfect lap, snatching pole by just 0.109 tenths of a second from Leclerc, who had briefly held the top spot. Current championship leader and teammate Oscar Piastri wasn’t far behind in third place, also setting a late lap to propel himself into the top three.
Ferrari thought they had secured fourth place through Lewis Hamilton, but he was handed a three-place grid penalty after the stewards determined he impeded Max Verstappen in the opening Q1 phase. This means he drops to seventh place, and the Dutch driver jumps up behind Piastri.
He wasn’t the only driver penalised on the day, as Oliver Bearman and Lance Stroll also received penalties. The Haas rookie dropped ten places for a red flag breach in practice, whilst the Aston Martin driver was sanctioned twice after an FP1 clash with Charles Leclerc and an impeding incident in qualifying.
It was a particularly good day for the Racing Bulls, where Isack Hadjar surged to fifth place, whilst teammate Liam Lawson was not far behind in ninth.
One team that struggled on the day was Mercedes, with both drivers finishing outside the top ten. George Russell finished 14th, while Kimi Antonelli wrapped up in 15th. With the difficulty of overtaking at Monaco, they may find it hard to bring any points back to Brackley.
The full qualifying order can be found below:
- Lando Norris
- Charles Leclerc
- Oscar Piastri
- Max Verstappen
- Isack Hadjar
- Fernando Alonso
- Lewis Hamilton*
- Esteban Ocon
- Liam Lawson
- Alex Albon
- Carlos Sainz
- Yuki Tsunoda
- Nico Hulkenberg
- George Russell
- Kimi Antonelli
- Gabriel Bortoleto
- Pierre Gasly
- Franco Colapinto
- Lance Stroll*
- Ollie Bearman*
The Monaco Grand Prix is always a game of strategy, and that promises to be no different when the race begins at 2 pm GMT.