Leclerc On Pole In Monaco Despite Crash

Calum Gill 15:23 22/05/2021

Charles Leclerc took pole position for his home Monaco Grand Prix despite a crash on his final flying lap.

The Ferrari driver pushed a little too hard at the second swimming pool chicane in the dying seconds, clipping the inside of the armco barrier and breaking his suspension. Leclerc took a reasonable hit on the rear of his car when he went into the wall on the outside of the corner. He now faces an anxious wait to see if his gearbox has gone undamaged, but if it has, he will be forced to start 5 positions back.

As a result of Leclerc's crash, the red flag was brought out, bringing a premature halt to the session. Max Verstappen had been on course to take pole away from local hero Leclerc, after the Dutchman had set an overall best first sector on his final lap. Championship leader Lewis Hamilton had a shocker of a session, with the 7-time-champion only managing 7th on the grid.

-Full weekend results

The crashed Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. (Credit: F1)

Leclerc and Ferrari had looked quick in each practice session, apart from the first session, where gearbox issues limited their running. Leclerc's teammate Carlos Sainz consolidated the Italian team's pace with a lap good enough for P4. Should he not take a grid penalty, 23-year-old Leclerc has to be the favourite to win at his home race.

Valtteri Bottas in the Mercedes put in a reasonable lap to get him third place, ahead of Sainz, with Lando Norris in the McLaren taking P5. AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly put in yet another solid effort to give him 6th on the grid, ahead of Mercedes driver Hamilton in 7th. Sebastian Vettel qualified in 8th, his best result since moving from Ferrari to Aston Martin, with Sergio Perez in the Red Bull and Antonio Giovinazzi with a great effort in his Alfa-Romeo rounding out the top 10.

Further down the grid

There were two surprise early exits for two of the biggest names in the sport this season. Daniel Ricciardo could qualify only 12th for McLaren, more than half a second off team-mate Norris in second qualifying, and Fernando Alonso did not even make it out of the first session in his Alpine. The Spanish double world champion, back in F1 this year after two years away, was 17th. Alonso was 0.465 of a second slower in Q1 than team-mate Esteban Ocon, who ended up 11th. George Russell was 15th for Williams as the team celebrate their 750th grand prix.

Yuki Tsunoda, Nicholas Latifi and Nikita Mazepin were eliminated in Q1 for the second race running. Mick Schumacher also exited in the first session, but that was because he never ran due to a crash in the third practice session in the morning.

2021 Monaco Grand Prix Qualifying Classification