Norris snatches pole from Leclerc and Piastri

McLaren’s Lando Norris beat home favourite Charles Leclerc to F1 Monaco Grand Prix pole, as Mercedes suffered a qualifying disaster.

Norris looked set to lose pole to Leclerc, who had led every practice session, after the second round of laps in Q3. But continuing on his set soft tyres Norris found another tenth and a half to clinch pole with his third flyer, beating last year’s winner by 0.109s.

Norris’ 1m09.954s lap was a new track record around the 3.3km venue, and yielded the Briton’s first pole since the opening Australian Grand Prix.

Norris had also led the first run from team-mate Oscar Piastri, with the Australian eventually settling for third on the grid after losing time in the Nouvelle Chicane.

Lewis Hamilton was fourth on the grid for Ferrari, four tenths behind, but the seven-time world champion may still be demoted after impeding Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in Q1. Verstappen could only manage fifth on the grid after a muted Red Bull performance, seven tenths behind pole position.

Isack Hadjar was a sensational sixth for Racing Bulls, overcoming two taps with the wall in free practice to end up as the most impressive rookie on the difficult street circuit.

Fernando Alonso was seventh for Aston Martin, just 0.001s behind Hadjar, with Esteban Ocon also excelling for Haas to clinch eighth. Liam Lawson grabbed ninth, with Williams man Alex Albon completing the top 10.

In Q1, qualifying ended early for Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who squeezed through in 15th but then tagged the wall at the Nouvelle Chicane and suffered terminal damage on his Mercedes, bringing out a late red flag.

There was more drama for Mercedes at the start of Q2 when George Russell reported a loss of power and then ground to a halt in the tunnel with a suspected electrical issue, meaning both Silver Arrows will start towards the rear.

After a lengthy red flag to get rid of the stricken Mercedes, Norris led the running ahead of Verstappen and Leclerc, but times continued to tumble rapidly.

The four cars from Ferrari and McLaren continued to trade blows at the top, with Verstappen third until a brilliant last-ditch lap by Williams’ Albon that put him ahead of the Dutchman.

Albon’s team-mate Carlos Sainz was less successful, rueing a lack of grip on the softs as he was pipped to the final Q3 berth by Haas driver Ocon.

Yuki Tsunoda was also out in 12th, complaining about impeding from Hadjar, with Nico Hulkenberg and the two Mercedes cars eliminated as well.

Sunday’s 78-lap grand prix will be spiced up by the one-off mandate to run three different sets of tyres, which will force drivers to make two pitstops to open up strategic options.

F1 Monaco GP – Qualifying results