Ireland's Dunne takes first F2 pole in Monaco
Ireland's Alex Dunne secured his first Formula Two pole position in dramatic fashion in Friday's qualifying session for the Monaco Grand Prix. Competing in the second of two qualifying groups, the 19-year-old McLaren Development Driver pipped Victor Martins by 0.003secs after the ART Grand Prix driver set the benchmark in the opening session. Championship leader Dunne's final-lap mark of 1:21.142 means he will start on pole for Sunday's feature race. "What a place to do it," said Dunne."Super, super happy. The team made some really good changes with the car and I felt really comfortable, so massive thank you to them, big thank you to McLaren and all the supporters we have here this weekend. "Excited for the feature race on Sunday."The County Offaly native has been in impressive form lately having taken his second win of the season at Imola last week after becoming the first Irish driver to win a Formula 2 race in Bahrain in April. Dunne leads Great Britain's Luke Browning by six points in the standings after four rounds.
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The strange thing is, nobody really calls it the farmers' league. Maybe in a few memes, on the odd message board, in some of the more heated corners of social media, but no serious football person thinks of Ligue 1 as a competition for agriculteurs. What is a farmers' league anyway? It would be one in which the players are part-time, which France's are not, and the football crude, which French football is not. There is also a hint of unworthiness or weakness in there, yet French clubs have performed reasonably well in Europe this season. Monaco, Lille and Brest all made it out of the Champions League group stage, and while none of the three won their next knockout game, Brest were eliminated by this season's champions Paris Saint-Germain, Monaco lost a thrilling tie 4-3 to Benfica and Lille went down 3-2 to Borussia Dortmund. No shame there. In the Europa League, Lyon lost that crazy game to Manchester United in the quarter-finals, meaning only Lens and Nice in the lesser competitions truly disappointed. France's problem is with history. Until this weekend, no French club had won a European trophy since PSG claimed the Cup Winners' Cup in 1996. Even the country's previous European Cup win, by Marseille in 1993, was tainted by corruption. For too long the reputation of French football has been that it produces brilliant individuals, as shown by the performances of the national team, who graduate to clubs in wealthier, more successful, leagues and conquer Europe from there. Since 2010, only Liverpool and Manchester City have won the Champions League without a Frenchman on the pitch. So, no, it most certainly isn't the farmers' league. Still, the perception in Paris is of disrespect. Luis Enrique, PSG's coach, references the jibe frequently as though he hears it all the time. No doubt it is a useful motivational tool to tell his players the world thinks they are akin to labourers. It's just not true. Long before they utterly dismantled Inter Milan, excellent judges such as Liverpool's Arne Slot had PSG down as the best team in Europe and when Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta sniffily disagreed and placed his own team first he was widely ridiculed. Yet even if Ligue 1 really was just PSG and every other team made up the numbers — and, yes, that is sometimes how it looks from the outside — it wouldn't matter. If anything it makes their achievement this season even greater. Since PSG took control of domestic competition in France — they have won ten of the past 12 titles — their superiority has been viewed as the cause of weakness in Europe. 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