Monaco Quali : LeClerc on Pole, Oscar P2
Home boy Charles LeClerc scores his third Pole in Monaco. Oscar Piastri takes P2 in his McLaren. Carlos Sainz manages to put his car on P3.
Monaco Magic for LeClerc
This is the third time that Charles LeClerc has put his Ferrari on Pole position in his home track of Monaco. However this time he would be fully focused on the race day and convert this pole into a race win. Till date his best finishing position in Monaco has been P4 and LeClerc would dearly want to change that. Monaco is a street track and very difficult to overtake. Track position matters a lot and being on Pole significantly helps in converting it to a race win. This has not happened the last two times. Once Ferrari fumbled in strategy as the rains poured in and the second time the team could not detect that the drive shaft is broken. This time LeClerc would be hope there would be no more gaffes and he cruises to victory. Just a week before at Imola, Ferrari looked like a distant third to Red Bull and McLaren. However here in Monaco they are on the front foot.
Well not so much for Carlos Sainz. He struggled in all the practice sessions and lacked the confidence of LeClerc. Still he pushed hard when it mattered and managed to put in on P3. He must be hoping to get a good start and at least take the P2 position and may be even a race win if somethings falters.
Adopted LeClerc of Monaco
Who would have thought there will be two local boys on the front row. Aussie Oscar Piastri mentioned on social media that he is checking his family history to see if there is any Monagasque roots. Charles LeClerc jokingly said that he can adopt him. Some more jokes ensued and Oscar’s name was put as Oscar Piastri-LeClerc on the time-sheets. McLaren looked really strong in the last week with Lando just 0.7 seconds behind race winner Max Verstappen. They had a good car here too with Oscar at P2 and Lando P4. Lando is still he alpha in the team and he would be a bit disappointed with P4 as he did not have a clean Quali session. Oscar did well in the last two races but it did not convert into good position. He must be hoping to correct that this weekend.
Missing RedBulls at Monaco
The Red Bulls struggled the entire practice sessions but no one anticipated it to be this bad. Sergio Perez had a tough time coming to terms with the car and he could not even get out of Q1. His job is still on the line for next year and this does not bode well for him.
We are all used to seeing Max Verstappen struggle in practice sessions only to pull out a stunner in the final lap of Q3. Well that did not happen in Monaco. He took too much risk and ended up touching the barriers too hard in his final run. Eventually he had to give up. The time margins are so less in Monaco that he will be starting P6 in the race. Yes it is tough to overtake in Monaco but Max would be giving it all to jump up a few places.
Mercedes looked good all weekend, probably the best this season. However they did not have it in them to be better than the Ferraris and McLarens. In the end George was P5 and Hamilton P7. They have made gains but there is a lot of work to be done. Yuki was impressive with a P8, so was Albon in P9 and his first Q3 appearance in 2024. Gasly managed a P10.
Monaco Quali Classification : LeClerc on Pole
