Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen will begin Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix from the pole position, after swiping the top spot away from Fernando Alonso and Charles Leclerc.
Alonso held provisional pole until Verstappen came back with a whopping 1:11.365 second lap time to steal the Aston Martin driver’s thunder by just under a tenth of a second.
“We knew it was going to be a bit of a struggle this weekend, but everything came together in the end,” Verstappen said. “Yesterday wasn’t the best start but I think we kept on improving and getting better. My final lap today wasn’t ideal, I gave it everything I had and risked it all in the third sector, as I knew I was behind.
“I clipped a few barriers but I’m happy to be on pole here for the first time. Tomorrow we need a clean start, it’s a short run to turn one and in Monaco a lot of things can happen. Race pace wise the car is quick so hopefully we can have a positive day.”
Verstappen’s teammate and defending Monaco winner Sergio Perez will start 11th after wrecking out in Q1.
“I am really disappointed with myself today. It was going well; I was happy with the balance and in Q1 naturally you are progressing and finding new limits,” Perez said. “Going into the corner I just lost the rear end quite late, which caught me out and I had nowhere to go, I could not cut the corner or get out of the corner.
“Unfortunately, that meant I ended up touching the wall and I cannot believe what I have done. This mistake is too difficult to digest right now, I don’t know what to say, I am just sorry for my team, they don’t deserve this. We will assess the car and see how the damage is, then we can make some decisions ahead of the race.”
Behind the front three, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon qualified fourth with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz rounding out the top five.
The Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell struggled to find pace, with Hamilton slotting in sixth aboard the revised Mercedes W14.
Russell qualified eighth, right behind Alpine Renault’s Pierre Gasly.
Haas F-1 will have their work cut out for them on Sunday after neither driver made it out of Q1. Kevin Magnussen will start 17th, followed by Nico Hulkenberg in 18th.