Home favourite Charles Leclerc claimed pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix despite crashing at the end of Q3.
The Monegasque scored his and Ferrari’s first P1 on a Saturday since Mexico 2019, but now faces an anxious wait to see how badly damaged his car is after hitting the wall hard at the Swimming Pool chicane.
But just like Michael Schumacher in 2006 and Nico Rosberg in 2014, Leclerc’s error prevented the rest from improving with Max Verstappen having to settle for second and Valtteri Bottas third.
It was a bad day for championship leader Lewis Hamilton, who will start seventh in the other Mercedes.
Q1
The session began with Valtteri Bottas putting in a blistering lap to go fastest with the first 1m10s of the weekend.
George Russell continued his run of Q2 appearances in 14th, as Sebastian Vettel scraped through in 15th.
Yuki Tsunoda was just 0.018s slower than the four-time world champion but missed out in 16th on his first trip to Monaco.
Fernando Alonso was the big name eliminated in 17th, almost half a second behind Alpine teammate Esteban Ocon.
Nicholas Latifi was 18th with Nikita Mazepin 19th, Mick Schumacher was unable to participate following his final practice crash.
Q2
At the front, Leclerc went fastest with the top three covered by less than a tenth.
Antonio Giovinazzi sneaked into the top 10 at the expense of Ocon in 11th. While Daniel Ricciardo was clearly frustrated in 12th as his first trip to Monte Carlo with McLaren continues to disappoint.
Lance Stroll survived a bump with the barrier at Portier but was only 13th for Aston Martin. Kimi Raikkonen was 14th in the second Alfa Romeo as Russell completed the top 15.
Q3
Leclerc took provisional pole after the first runs with a 1m10.346s, two-tenths clear of Verstappen and Bottas.
As the drivers completed their second runs, Charles unintentionally ensured his time would not be beaten, making the classic mistake of hitting the inside wall entering the Swimming Pool chicane and bouncing over the kerb into the outside barrier.
But with a lot of damage to be repaired, he’ll be hoping a gearbox or chassis penalty can be avoided.
Behind the top three was Carlos Sainz in the second Ferrari, with Lando Norris an impressive fifth for McLaren.
Pierre Gasly was sixth with Lewis Hamilton very vulnerable of the potential midfield mayhem in P7.
Vettel was eighth, as Sergio Perez will again be unable to support Verstappen from ninth with Giovinazzi 10th.
A dramatic end to qualifying and now a tense wait for Leclerc, who has never finished a race in Monaco either in F2 or F1.
If Ferrari can fix his car though, he might have the best chance ever to end that streak with a win.
Full results from qualifying can be seen below:
