Max Verstappen secured a historic pole position in the Monaco Grand Prix, snatching the top spot from an outstanding Fernando Alonso with the improved Aston Martin. We witnessed a qualifying session with a high adrenaline level, demonstrating that Formula 1 doesn’t need artificial means to create excitement. However, it’s unfortunate that in the beautiful day of Monte Carlo, Ferrari was missing, unable to place Charles Leclerc on the front row and at fault for the three-place grid penalty for impeding Lando Norris.
More than the starting grid, which will become a crucial element tomorrow, what remains after the Monaco qualifying session is the feeling of having witnessed a high-level sporting spectacle. Sometimes Formula 1 twists itself in search of an artificial path that leads to what we saw today in Monte Carlo, a path that probably doesn’t exist.
The show, at its highest level, takes shape when there are two or more drivers competing for a result within tenths of a second, or as happened today in Monaco, within hundredths. Such a narrow margin creates the unpredictability that is the essence of sports; everything else is a consequence.
In the Monaco qualifying session, there were four potential pole-sitters, four drivers who gave everything in a final lap experienced in an unreal silence even within the team garages. Max Verstappen came out on top, but to do so, he had to deliver what was likely his best qualifying lap since his debut in Formula 1 in 2015.
After the FP3 session, Max Verstappen’s pole position seemed almost certain, but things turned out differently because as the track rubbered in, his opponents became formidable. In the final lap, a surprising Esteban Ocon topped the timesheet, and twenty seconds later, it was Charles Leclerc’s turn. While the Monegasque crossed the finish line, Fernando Alonso’s sector times were already jeopardizing his pole position, and indeed, the Aston Martin garage erupted in joy shortly after when Fernando crossed the line.
At that moment, Verstappen passed through the swimming pool section 0.204 seconds behind Fernando Alonso’s time (and 0.023 seconds behind Charles Leclerc), a margin that seemed impossible to recover in three corners. Max saw the gap on his display and realized that risking everything was necessary to aim for pole position. He did just that, literally brushing against the outside wall at Anthony Noghes and the inside barriers as he entered the final straight. The risk paid off, and he secured a pole position that made the Red Bull pit wall explode with excitement.
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“I knew I was down before the final sector,” confirmed Max. “I took the risk, I touched some walls. It’s a section where the car behaves well (Red Bull brought one of the widest rear wings ever seen on a single-seater by Adrian Newey to Monaco), but on that final lap, I definitely pushed harder.”
Max Verstappen’s pole position ultimately pleased everyone, and it couldn’t be any different. Alonso acknowledged that today in Monaco, it wasn’t possible to do more, even though the difference between the two was just 84 milliseconds. Fernando can look at the glass as half full. By a margin of 22 milliseconds (his gap to Charles Leclerc), he put the Aston Martin on the front row, as he rightly reminded the team on the radio immediately after the end of qualifying, “…two months ago, we would have never imagined something like this.”
The greatest disappointment is in the Ferrari garage, and it couldn’t be any different. Sergio Perez’s exit had seemed like good news for the Scuderia, and at that point, the bare minimum appeared to be a front-row position behind Verstappen. However, Charles Leclerc had to surrender to the Aston Martin as well, a bitter and somewhat surprising verdict, also influenced by a Saturday that started with setup problems in the FP3 session.
The situation improved in qualifying, but in reality, Charles didn’t have the opportunity to exploit that crucial feeling lap after lap on a street circuit.
Three hours after the end of qualifying, confirmation came of the penalty that pushed Charles Leclerc from third to sixth position on the starting grid for impeding Lando Norris.
It’s a heavy blow to Charles’ ambitions, as he aimed to at least fight for a podium, an objective that now appears to be at the end of a very uphill road. “What do I need tomorrow?” Leclerc commented right after qualifying. “A bit more luck, maybe the kind of luck I haven’t had in previous years.”
However, the home race doesn’t seem to be a fortunate scenario for Charles, and it was of little use to explain to the stewards’ panel (as confirmed by the onboard camera) that he was late to be informed by his race engineer about Norris coming up behind him.
The infringement occurred, and the penalty is a consequence of it. Leclerc will start from sixth position tomorrow, while Carlos Sainz will start from fourth. It’s not the scenario that Ferrari had anticipated on the eve of the Monaco race.
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