Norris Snatches Monaco Pole from Hometown Hero Leclerc

By Ben Langley

Lando Norris snatched pole in Monaco qualifying, as he pipped Charles Leclerc by just over a tenth of a second.

Oscar Piastri qualified third ahead of the other Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton. Max Verstappen could only finish fifth with Isack Hadjar impressing once again as he qualified sixth. However, it was a miserable day for Mercedes as George Russell and Kimi Antonelli both suffered early exits.

Q1 brought little surprises. Alpine’s poor form all weekend transcended into qualifying as Gasly could only qualify 18th and Franco Colapinto was dead last. Lance Stroll’s impressive Imola qualifying seemed a blip as he qualified 19th. Gabriel Bortoleto in 16th and Oliver Bearman in 17th completed the first five to drop out. However, the big drama of Q1 came from Antonelli as he ended the session in the barrier after clipping an inside wheel at the Nouvelle chicane. The young Italian scraped through in 15th in Q1, but would play no further part in qualifying.

Things went from bad to worse for Mercedes, as in the early stages of Q2, Russell lost electrical power in his Mercedes. He was forced to stop inside the tunnel and therefore will start the race from 14th.

Yuki Tsunoda was the surprise of the Q2 eliminations, ending the session in 12th. Carlos Sainz in 11th and Nico Hulkenberg in 13th completed the Q2 eliminations.

As Q3 began, it was Norris who led after the first runs, fractions ahead of Piastri. McLaren opted for both drivers to go early towards the final stages. Once again it was Norris who took provisional pole. However, as the other eight drivers threw on the fresh tyres, it was Leclerc who got ahead of Norris with an 1:10.0. McLaren’s early runs gave both drivers a second lap and Norris took full advantage as he set a 1:09.9 to snatch pole position. Piastri could only manage third with Hamilton qualifying fourth.

Verstappen took fifth with Hadjar sixth. Fernando Alonso, Estaban Ocon, Liam Lawson and Alexander Albon completed the top ten in that order.

With the mandatory two-stop adding further potential jeopardy to the race, Norris will no doubt feel the pressure as he searches for his first win around the Monte-Carlo streets.