It is the day of the Resurrection even though it is not Easter. Charles Leclerc secures a stunning pole position in the Monaco GP qualifying, giving Ferrari its 250th pole position. The Ferrari driver showcased his crystal-clear talent, qualifying with a different engine after a sensor problem emerged. On the home streets, the Monegasque driver claims his third pole position in Monte Carlo and positions himself for success tomorrow after achieving the 24th pole position of his career, equaling champions like Niki Lauda and Nelson Piquet. Charles had been dry since Las Vegas 2023, and it took returning to a circuit with the green carpet to see the Scuderia rejoice on Saturday.
With the Ferrari SF-24, Charles Leclerc came close to the absolute track record held by Lewis Hamilton since 2019. The Ferrari man, on soft tires, clocked 1.12.270, missing less than a tenth to set the new record. Ferrari was more interested in the position on the track than the time, and they can also count on Carlos Sainz’s third position. The Spaniard is 248 thousandths behind his teammate and seems resigned to helping the Monegasque break the “Monaco curse.”
Oscar Piastri, in the McLaren painted yellow and green in honor of Ayrton Senna, wedged himself between the two Ferraris, with a gap of only 154 thousandths despite a couple of small mistakes that prevented the Australian’s lap from being perfect.
The team led by Andrea Stella is consistent in always putting a car in a position to challenge those starting at the front. In Imola, it would have been Oscar chasing Verstappen, but Piastri earned a three-place penalty. In Monaco, he aimed to recover what he missed in Emilia Romagna, leaving Lando Norris behind in fifth.
The top six were within a couple of tenths, and Mercedes can also be pleased, as George Russell secured fifth position with a W15 equipped with a different front wing designed to understand the aerodynamic issue plaguing the silver-black arrow. The Englishman was overtaken by Norris by one thousandth of a second, but the Brackley team, on a track usually tough for Mercedes, showed the first real signs of awakening. Lewis Hamilton, with a more traditional car, is seventh, right behind Max Verstappen.
The Dutchman did not perform a miracle today. In an attempt to shave off a few thousandths with a not-at-its-best Red Bull, he brushed the barriers exiting Saint Devote: the three-time world champion is relegated to the third row with a sixth place, reflecting the setup difficulties of the RB20 despite Adrian Newey’s presence in the Milton Keynes pits. Max Verstappen made a small mistake trying to push the car beyond its limits. It’s also worth pointing out that Sergio Perez was only in 18th place.
On Saturday morning, Scuderia Ferrari continued working on the red tire to prepare exclusively for the single lap, in order to build sufficient confidence between the driver and the car. During the last available practice session, there were no significant setup changes. The drivers continued to receive indications from the pit, with suggestions on driving and some settings on the steering wheel dials. They focused on handling turn 5, where the front-end tires should not be excessively saturated.
This is a corner with negative banking where the car tends to slide outward. Charles Leclerc struggled all weekend to interpret this turn. Ferrari tried to improve the line through turns 15 and 16, with his Ferrari race engineer Bryan Bozzi suggesting he be less aggressive in reaching the apex to anticipate the point where he would get on the throttle. During Q1, Charles Leclerc went out with a new Soft tire, which he used for the entire first part of qualifying. Max Verstappen did the same.
In Monaco, the reference plane is very smooth because it is resurfaced every year, so the physical degradation of the compound is reduced. The drivers, for this reason, preferred to save a compound and continue to do many laps on track to build confidence. Even a few extra laps can be very important for increasing the feeling with the car towards the last attempt in Q3. Red Bull made a significant step forward compared to yesterday’s practice sessions. Firstly, they matched Ferrari’s power level, which contributes significantly to lowering the lap time.
Automatically, traction improves with more horsepower. The suspension then needs to be able to transfer it to the ground, but as we know, the Red Bull RB20 is currently the car with the greatest capabilities in this regard. However, problems with the front-end were still present and unresolved. Gianpiero Lambiase, in Q1, reminded the Dutchman to adjust the settings that had been studied after the final free practice session. Aerodynamically, they did not change anything during the weekend, although the Dutch driver was repeatedly asked if he wanted a change in incidence or wing specification.
Let’s try to understand where Charles Leclerc managed to build his lap with his Ferrari that earned him the pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix. We do this with the help of micro-sector data, cross-referenced with telemetry data. Already yesterday, we had seen a lack of pace in the first sector for Ferrari. The Monegasque driver carries a lot of speed into the apex but loses on the exit, being positioned worse and therefore having to delay the point when he gets on the throttle. The overall balance favors the Ferrari driver, however, because he manages to gain a tenth on Max Verstappen and half a tenth on Oscar Piastri only in corner entry.
We are talking about a gap that the two do not completely recover on the exit. Throughout the climb towards the Casino, both Mercedes and Red Bull gain on Ferrari, but it’s a matter of fractions of a second. In the next two corners passing through the Casino Square, Charles Leclerc continues to gain on entry, losing then on exit. Overall, the delta against his rivals remains contained. In the first sector, in fact, the two Mercedes, Max Verstappen, and Lando Norris are faster than the Monegasque driver.
In the second part of the track, Charles Leclerc almost maximizes the result. Only Oscar Piastri was faster, though by just eight thousandths. Essentially, he gained in turn 5 thanks to a solid entry and then at the hairpin, where the Monegasque driver again found a huge advantage on entry. Just under 2 tenths gained in those meters alone. Charles Leclerc’s last attempt was a really good lap. In the tunnel, the SF-24 held its own against the competitors’ top speeds.
In that section, the Ferrari SF-24 single-seater surely used a bit of hybrid power. The exit from the corner preceding the tunnel was not perfectly interpreted by Charles Leclerc. Additionally, after working a lot on turn 10, the results were clearly visible, especially in the entry phase. The third sector, however, has been the Monegasque’s territory for almost the entire weekend. At the entrance to the second chicane at the Swimming Pool, he didn’t gain as much as yesterday, but the gap remained stable in the overall curve balance. The real difference was made in the last two corners, where he gained 1.5 tenths to Oscar Piastri and a full 3 tenths to Max Verstappen.
Finally, let’s analyze the ideal sectors of the various drivers, which is very useful for understanding the potential performance of the cars. McLaren, in fact, was the only team along with Red Bull able to challenge Ferrari today. Oscar Piastri, calculating the so-called ‘ideal’ times, would have ended up on pole by 7 thousandths. The telemetry data confirms this. Additionally, Lando Norris could have reached third position, displacing Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. Lastly, we notice how even Max Verstappen could have contested the pole position against Leclerc’s SF-24.
However, in his last attempt, the Dutchman threw everything away already in turn 1, where he had always comfortably gained on Ferrari throughout the rest of the Monte Carlo weekend. Undoubtedly, the three-time Formula 1 world champion, knowing he would lose in other sectors, tried to gain enough where his RB20 was strong, aiming to balance the losses.
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