Max Verstappen edges out Fernando Alonso to take Monaco F1 GP pole

Max Verstappen claimed pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix, delivering a masterclass for Red Bull in a gripping session on the streets of Monte Carlo to beat Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso into second place. Verstappen absolutely threaded the needle on the narrow, twisting confines of the principality with a consummate lap and with it secured a commanding advantage for Sunday’s race.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was third, his teammate Carlos Sainz in fifth, with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon in fourth. Mercedes, who had brought their long awaited new design upgrades to this meeting, made tentative steps in the right direction with Lewis Hamilton in sixth and George Russell in eighth.

Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez took too much pace into Sainte Devote and lost the rear, hitting the wall early in Q1 and causing the session to be red-flagged. An unforced error likely to translate into a major championship blow for the Mexican, who will start from the back of the grid.

Leclerc is under investigation for impeding McLaren’s Lando Norris and may face a grid penalty.

Verstappen had been strong, leading the times throughout qualifying and opened on his first hot run in Q3 with a 1minute 12.102 second-lap but it was Alonso who had the edge and it was a chasm, leading with a lap a full four-tenths up on the Dutchman. With the track evolving the final runs of which they were to take two more of each were to be crucial.

Verstappen improved at first with a mighty final sector and a time of 1m 11.654, five hundredths up on Alonso only for a gripping session to throw up another surprise as Ocon delivered a superb run to take provisional pole. For the final hot laps and the track as quick as it would go, Alonso had held his best to last and looked to have claimed the top spot only for Verstappen to break his heart. With another majestic final sector, he pipped the Spaniard by just eight hundredths of a second with a time of 1min 11.365sec, an almighty effort given he had also brushed the wall on that final circuit.

After taking a dominant pole and win at the opening round in Bahrain, then coming back from 15th to second in Saudi Arabia, following it with a win in Australia, a second place in Baku and victory in Miami, Verstappen and Red Bull delivered another ominous display of commanding pace and control in Monaco, all the more impressive given the narrow, twisting street circuit does not play to the strengths of their car.

With pole so vital in Monaco where passing is all but impossible Verstappen, who leads the world championship by 14 points from teammate Pérez and took pole-to-flag victories in Bahrain and Australia, looks in every position to repeat the feat on Sunday. This is his 23rd pole and his first in Monaco, where he has won once before in 2021.

With anticipation and expectation high for Mercedes, who had brought their radically redesigned car to this race in an attempt to kickstart their season, qualifying was at least a step in the right direction.

Lewis Hamilton qualified in sixth place in his redesigned Mercedes. Photograph: Peter Fox/Getty Images

It had not gone altogether smoothly however. Hamilton had uncharacteristically crashed at Mirabeau in final practice, overshooting his braking area and giving his team a fast turn around to fix the car for qualifying.

With the team admitting at the season-opener in Bahrain that they had pursued the wrong design concept, the team immediately set about going in a new direction, with the result making its debut in Monaco. With changes to the sidepods, floor and front suspension they are pursuing a new aerodynamic philosophy, the aim of which was to improve downforce and grip, to provide a predictable, stable platform on which they can develop and in which the drivers have confidence.

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For Hamilton and Russell this was perhaps much as they had expected. The twisting, bumpy street circuit in Monte Carlo, which requires a higher ride-height is far from the best place to try out the aero changes the team has made, not least of which is aimed at being able to improve downforce by running the car lower. They had been circumspect about their performances here but appeared at least to believe the team had indeed taken the right direction.

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Pierre Gasly was seventh for Alpine, Yuki Tsunoda in ninth for AlphaTauri.

Norris hit the wall at Tabac in Q2, taking damage to his McLaren and leaving him in 10th place. His teammate Oscar Piastri was 11th. Nyck de Vries was 12th for AlphaTauri, Alex Albon in 13th for Williams, Lance Stroll in 14th for Aston Martin and Valtteri Bottas ini 15th for Alfa Romeo.

Logan Sargeant was 16th for Williams, Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hülkenberg in 17th and 18th for Haas and Guanyu Zhou in 19th for Alfa Romeo.