CHARLES LECLERC has earned himself pole position ahead of TOMORROW'S race in what turned out to be a chaotic qualifying.
The Ferrari star took advantage of a dramatic crash involving Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen at the final turn of the circuit.
Whilst Lewis Hamilton had another poor day at the office as the seven-time world champion finished way down in eighth.
Keep up to date with all of the action below…
- Race time: 2pm, Sunday
- TV/ live stream: Sky Sports F1
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- Justin Lawrence
Russell hopes for rain
George Russell is hoping for some rainy weather to implement a risky strategy to win the Monaco GP from his P6 starting position.
He said: "Bring it on. That’s what we need in this situation – high risk, high reward. We have to go for it.
"If we lose out on a P5 or a P6, it’s not ideal, but it’s not the end of the world. We want to put it all on the line and go for the win. You often don’t say that from P6 in Monaco, but it looks like it is going to rain tomorrow.
“Look at it now – it’s grey and gloomy, it’s gone from the French Riviera being beautiful in sunshine and now it looks like we’re in London. So yeah, I’ll welcome a bit of rain.”
- Jon Boon
Verstappen wants 'chaos'
With the weather report expecting rain at the Monaco Grand Prix, Max Verstappen wants a bit of chaos.
“It depends on what the weather will do,” he said.
“A little bit of chaos would be nice but if it’s not then you try to score the most possible points in my position… Overall it’s been a little bit more of a tricky weekend.”
- Jon Boon
Sainz unhappy with crash
Carlos Sainz was adamant he did all he could to avoid a crash.
"No, look I am a Formula One driver, I have pretty good reflexes and I did everything I could to avoid that crash," said Sainz after the race.
"The yellow flag is on the far left and you are looking right so you don't even have really time to see the flag and on top of that to actually react to a late yellow flag like I had there so it's how it is.
"I am surprised that this is even a question really. I shouldn't even be looked at because I did the best I could to avoid the crash."
- Jon Boon
Hamilton rues his luck
Lewis Hamilton is waiting for his luck to change after a red flag stopped him from improving his qualifying time at the Monaco Grand Prix.
He said: "It’s very hard to overtake here, so I am hoping that the weather plays up and creates opportunities, so people can do different strategies. It would be nice to have some luck for once.”
And Hamilton it's about time lady luck changed for him.
“I've been having it all year,” he said. “At some stage, it has got to change.”
- Jon Boon
Verstappen laments red flag
Max Verstappen believes that P2 was in his grasp before red flag.
“So far it has been a bit tricky for me the whole weekend and of course in qualifying, in Q3 you want to go all-out,” Verstappen said.
“It was getting a bit better. I do think that last run, I opted to do a bit of a different strategy to the cars around me, and it was actually quite good — I was on a good lap until I got to that corner and there was a bit of a traffic jam.
“It’s very unfortunate — I think we could have done better than fourth. Not pole, Charles was too strong today, but it would have been nice to be second. But that’s Monaco — you do one lap in Q3 and there’s always a risk of a red flag when everyone is trying to risk it all.”
- Jon Boon
Qualifying classification
Here we go – in full – the qualifying classification.
It promises to be an eventful Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday – with Ferrari and Red Bull going head-to-head in the top four positions.
Who will come out on top?
- Jon Boon
Alonso 'lost concentration'
Fernando Alonso has revealed a loss of concentration caused his Q3 crash in Monaco.
“I lost concentration, so I braked too late, and locked the tyres," he told Autosport.
“Arguably I could use the escape road, if I think back, but I felt I could make the corner, and I couldn't.
“So I apologised to the team first of all, because this year every mistake, it costs money for the cost cap.
“So it is difficult to accept, so I'm not very proud of my qualifying. Let's hope tomorrow to do a better job.”
- Jon Boon
Leclerc on his pole
Charles Leclerc is delighted for his pole at his home Grand PriX.
The Ferrari driver is leading the grid for tomorrow's Monaco race.
He said: "It is very special, I am so incredibly happy, it has been a very smooth weekend up until now.
"It went perfectly up until now and that last lap before the red flag was really, really good."
- Jon Boon
Leclerc and Verstappen level
Taking pole today, he is now level with Max Verstappen on career pole positions.
However, rather astonishingly, Verstappen has 20 more career wins than the Frenchman.
Leclerc will be looking to bring that gap down tomorrow.
Should be a crucial battle between these two in Monaco.
- Jon Boon
Qualifying graphic
Here's the full qualifying grid in a fancy graphic.
As you can Leclerc and Sainz lead the line.
Then there's Perez, Verstappen in fourth and Norris in fifth.
Who will get off to the best start on Sunday?
- Jon Boon
Confident Sainz
Carlos Sainz is in buoyant mood after qualifying.
Both the Ferrari cars occupy pole and 2nd ahead of tomorrow's Grand Prix.
"Let's now try and finish the job tomorrow, we are in a great position," he said.
"We will go for it!"
- Ben Hunt
Unlucky for Hamilton
He was improving his time when the session was stopped. He would have qualified higher up the grid but was not allowed the opportunity to finish the lap.
- Ben Hunt
Red Flag – A crash before the tunnel has caused chaos
Leclerc was on a flying lap and looking to improve his time but behind him, Perez spins at the entrance and goes into the barrier.
But he is then hit by Sainz, causing a blockage on the track and the session is red flagged.
But the flag was a bit late and other cars arrived at the scene at speed.
The upshot it that Leclerc takes pole, Sainz will start second. Perez in third, Verstappen in fourth.
Norris in fifth, Russell in sixth, Alonso in seventh and Hamilton way down in eighth.
- Ben Hunt
Drivers are struggling to beat that time from Leclerc
It was an early run, but it could prove to be the deciding one here.
- Ben Hunt
Leclerc takes provisional pole
A good first crack for the Ferrari man to take P1 for the time being while Sainz is just 0.225 seconds behind him.
Perez P3 and Verstappen P4.
Still eight minutes to go but this is set up perfectly for a grandstand finish.
- Ben Hunt
Q3 is go – the battle for the top 10
Will Leclerc continue his excellent pace or will Perez or Verstappen pip him to pole?
Can Hamilton get inside the front two rows of the grid or even beat his teammate?
And what about Sainz? He's had mixed form all season, but he is due a win and pole here would help those chances.
- Ben Hunt
Ricciardo is out of Q2
The Aussie is under massive pressure to start delivering for McLaren – and this was another poor Saturday.
He scraped in to Q2 but has not made it into the top 10. He's under contract until 2023 but there are already rumours about him being replaced at the team.
Schumacher, Magnussen, Bottas and Tsunoda are also knocked out.
- Justin Lawrence
Sainz picks Champions League winner
Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz took a moment away from the practice sessions to give his opinion on the Champions League final.
He said: "I don't think Real needs to win because as a team, they've done a great season.
"But Real normally tends to win the finals because it's Real, and they have a lot of experience. Especially these players that they have now, they've played a lot of finals together and they know what they need to do to win.
"I was tempted. But it is the typical thing – you go to Paris, you come back, obviously it is not ideal preparation but I still think you can do it but then everyone knows that you've been in Paris.
"If something goes wrong on Sunday, it's because you went to Paris, so it’s the typical thing that you would never do as a racing driver but I still believe it would be doable."
- Ben Hunt
Leclerc has a moment in the pitlane
He might be the quickest man on track, but he had a mistake there as he missed the FIA's spot-check at the weighbridge.
Spotting his mistake, he pulled over and needed to be pushed back up the pitlane by his Ferrari mechanics where he was able to comply with the rules for a weight check.
- Ben Hunt
Mercedes off the pace
Both Hamilton and Russell are struggling to match the pace of the Ferrari and Red Bulls.
It could be touch and go here if they make it into Q3.
Hamilton radios the team saying "I told you guys, there rears [tyres] are not ready".
- Ben Hunt
Q2 gets the green light
The shootout for the top 10 is underway in Monaco. All eyes on whether the Mercedes duo can make it into the top 10.
McLaren's Ricciardo could also come under pressure too.
- Justin Lawrence
Chelsea star seen in Monaco
Chelsea star Mason Mount was present at the FP3 in Monaco with the Red Bull team.
He was spotted having a chat with Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.
And the England star chose the right team to align with as Perez stormed to victory in the race.
But world champion Verstappen could only finish in fourth.
- Ben Hunt
Q1 is done – Gasly eliminated
The Frenchman was caught out by the traffic in the pitlane following the red flag.
He pays the price for the suspicious call from the FIA.
Zhou, Latifi, Stroll and Albon are also knocked out at the first attempt.
- Ben Hunt
Session has restarted
But what a mess in the pitlane. The majority of drivers are going to miss out on the chance to improve their lap times.
That spells bad news for Schumacher and Bottas, who were the last out.
- Ben Hunt
Red Flag – Session stopped
Somewhat ludicrous as the race steward has stopped the session for what seems to be Tsunoda hitting a barrier.
That said, the AlphaTauri man was still able to carry on and has made it back to the pits.
Seems like an over reaction from the FIA in that instance, but safety first and all that…
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