Ferrari had illuded by dominating all three free practice sessions with Leclerc, but in the end it was Lando Norris who took pole on Saturday in Monaco. The McLaren driver produced a valuable performance by jumping ahead at the right moment, but above all by stopping the clocks in 1'09"954, a time no one had ever done before in the Principality. So while the Briton was smiling for two reasons, Charles was surely the most disappointed driver of the day. Convinced he could make a gift to the home crowd, he lacked the speed to get the better of qualifying however, and the race, by his own admission, could be even more complicated in view of the SF25's weaknesses.
Behind them will start World Championship leader Oscar Piastri and the other Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton, four tenths off. Only fifth was reigning world champion Max Verstappen, followed by an excellent Isack Hadjar in the Racing Bulls and Fernando Alonso who really gave it his all to get into the top 10. Like the Aston Martin driver, Esteban Ocon also celebrated with a good result. The Frenchman of the Haas team managed to place the American car in eighth place surprising everyone, ahead of the other Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson and the Williams of the usual Alex Albon.
Worthy of note was the Mercedes debacle, with Andrea Antonelli hitting the barriers at the end of Q1 and George Russell stopped by a power unit failure in the early stages of Q2. Tomorrow the two will start in 15th and 14th places, respectively. Yuki Tsunoda's performance was also mediocre, only 12th in the Red Bull.
"It's been a long time since I started from pole and after so many difficulties it's really nice. It feels really good to have done it on this track and to have snatched it from the local idol. The team did a great job and I thank them," were the poleman's words.
"You can always do better, but more than that was impossible. Unfortunately, on the second lap I encountered traffic. It was frustrating. We don't have the car to win, but after all as a starting position it's not bad," was Charles' comment.
"I made a mistake at the chicane and lost time. It's a complicated weekend, so third is good. I think I touched more walls these days than in my whole career," Oscar joked.
