Lando Norris on pole for McLaren, Charles Leclerc right behind in Ferrari for Monaco Grand Prix

The Star

2 days ago

Jehran Naidoo | Published 1 week ago
Lando Norris will start from pole position in-his first ever two stop Monaco Grand Prix.
The British driver shattered Lewis Hamilton's track record to take the first pole of his career at Monaco in Saturday's qualifying.
Norris drove a lightning 1:09:954, the first driver in F1 history to go quicker than 1:10:000 at Monaco.
The modern day Monaco great Charles Leclerc looked incredibly quick and qualified in P2.
It's the first time this season that Ferrari look like a real threat to McLaren's dominance so far this season.
Leclerc's P2 start on Sunday means he enters a list of elite drivers that had enjoyed consistent success at Monaco.
In the past six races there, Leclerc has either started from pole or second place, a feat compared to drivers like Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost.
McLaren's Oscar Piastri made a few slip ups durng the second sector of his final qualifying lap, which cost him a couple hundredths that Leclerc was earger to pick up.
The Australian driver secured P3, with Hamilton in P4, ahead of Max Verstappen at P5.
Hamilton managing to secure P4 was even sweeter for Ferrari because the British driver had put the car into the wall during the third practice session.
Hamilton's car had to be fitted with a new rear end, suspension and gearbox before qualifying.
After qualifying, McLaren boss Zak Brown said all the top-six cars looked very good in terms of pace and hinged on the fact that their strategy will be key going into the race.
"With the whole two pit stop thing they've suddenly thrown in, that changes a lot, even with the safety car out there. So a lot can happen in the race and I think our strategy will matter," an elated Brown said.
Both Mercedes drivers struggled during qualifying.
George Russell will start from P14, with Kimi Antonelli in P15.
Russell's car experienced mechanical failure while Antonelli damaged his rear right tyre after attacking a turn too early. Antonelli's car ended up in the barrier.
Abject disappointed was painted on the face everyone at Mercedes, especially boss Toto Wolff.
Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar looked a bit shabby in practice but managed to secure the best start to his F1 career at P6.
Hadjar said it was a "mighty job".
"I had no confidence this morning so to go to P6 is amazing. I'm quite optimistic and it's also two stops. So you can get lucky or unlucky but we definitely have a car to fight with tomorrow," Hadjar said.
Leclerc is also effectively at the centre of the reason why the FIA opted to introduce the two stop race on Sunday.
Last year, all the drivers fitted hard tyres on lap one after a crash up the hill at the first corner sent the safety car out.
Due to the life on the tyres being so marginal, pole-sitter and leader Charles Leclerc controlled the pace for the entire race.
This resulted in a boring event with no action for 77 laps.
The two stops will introduce more factors into the race and more chances for errors - giving room for opportunity for those behind the pole sitter and the middle order fighters.