Max Verstappen takes pole position in Monaco Grand Prix qualifying

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen took the pole position in the qualifying laps before the Monaco Grand Prix, the 6th race of the 2023 Formula 1 season.

The F1 paddock, unable to compete in Imola last weekend due to the flooding in Italy, arrived in Monaco, the “pilot of the calendar” for the 6th race of the season.

With its famous guests, vibrant social life, famous marina and casinos, the qualifying tours were held today in the Monaco GP, which has a great attraction and charm off the track.

As the Monaco Circuit is the narrowest and most difficult to pass on the F1 calendar, qualifying in Monaco is considered the “highest qualifying of the season” and a good Saturday is essential for a good result on Sunday.

F1 drivers also battled hard on the streets of Monte Carlo for the most important pole position of the season, and we had a really great qualifying session.

At the end of the session, the fastest time came from Red Bull driver Max Verstappen. The defending champion thus qualified to start tomorrow’s race from the first row. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso will be next to Verstappen on the grid tomorrow.

The Monaco GP will start on Sunday, May 28, at 16:00 ET.

Race grid:

To be updated…

Q3-Third part: Verstappen on pole for the first time in Monaco, Alonso second!

Ferrari, Mercedes and Alpine drivers as well as Fernando Alonso, Max Verstappen, Yuki Tsunoda and Lando Norris competed in the final part of the qualifying laps.

With the light at the end of the pit turning green, the 12-minute session began, and the drivers began their practice for perhaps the most important pole position of the season.

Having suffered a lot of red flags in the past years, Verstappen wanted to secure his job this time and was the first name to appear on the track. The Dutch pilot immediately started his first try, and many pilots behind him started their first trials.

Verstappen crossed the line first and made 1:12.102. This rank was worse than Verstappen’s in Q2, as Alonso was about 0.4 seconds faster than Verstappen when he crossed the line and the Spaniard took first place!

Then the Ferrari drivers and George Russell passed Verstappen. Thus, after the first trials, the first 6 of Alonso, Sainz, Leclerc, George Russell, Verstappen, Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly were formed.

The first 3 pilots took just 0.053 seconds!

With 5 minutes to go, Verstappen started a second lap on the same tires and took the lead, beating Alonso with just 0.052.

Afterwards, Lewis Hamilton completed the first lap, trailing 0.071 seconds to third place. A few seconds after Hamilton, Ocon crossed the line and took the top spot by 0.1! The track was getting faster with each lap and Ocon managed to top it with 3 minutes left of the session.

At this point, the other pilots started their final trials and we watched perhaps the most critical moments of the weekend. First, Leclerc crossed the line and took first place past Ocon.

Sainz came next and moved to fourth place. After Sainz, it was Alonso’s turn. Alonso, who had won here twice before, took first place, beating Leclerc by 0.022.

Finally, eyes turned to Verstappen. Verstappen, who went on the track with new tires for his last try, managed to take the pole with a perfect lap, taking 0.3 seconds from Alonso in the last sector!

The defending champion thus took his first pole in Monaco and qualified to start tomorrow’s race from first place.

Fernando Alonso at Aston Martin also recorded some great laps, but at the end of the day it wasn’t enough to beat Verstappen. Alonso, who is 0.084 seconds behind Verstappen, will start the race from second place.

Local hero Charles Leclerc finished the session in third place.

Ocon, who rose to the top with 3 minutes left, finished the session 0.188 seconds behind the leader and surprised many with his performance. Carlos Sainz completed the top 5.

Saying that it was “difficult to drive”, Lewis Hamilton took sixth place; followed by Pierre Gasly, George Russell and Yuki Tsunoda.

Lando Norris, whose car was damaged in the second session, was able to get on the track thanks to the fast work of McLaren mechanics and took 10th place, 0.9 seconds behind the leader.

Q3 result:

Q2-Second part: Verstappen fastest again, Stroll eliminated

In the second part of the qualifying laps, the fight got even more intense, and the drivers competed to stay in the last part. After all, starting Monaco from the top 10 means that you are largely guaranteed to score points.

The only event of the second episode took place 2 minutes before the end. McLaren driver Lando Norris crashed into the wall at Turn 11, breaking his left front suspension, and then hitting the barriers at Turn 12. The British pilot was still able to pit.

The fastest time of the session came from Max Verstappen. Charles Leclerc and Fernando Alonso followed him. George Russell took fourth place.

Lewis Hamilton was again in the knockout zone until the last lap and worried his fans, but he made no mistakes in the last lap, making it to the 5th place and making it to the last section. Then the team radio told his engineer, “Dude, this car is really hard to drive.” said.

Pierre Gasly, Carlos Sainz, Esteban Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda and Lando Norris, who hit the barriers, completed the top 10 and remained in the last section.

The mechanics had begun a feverish effort to train Norris for the final episode. Norris’ teammate Oscar Piastri was eliminated in 11th place.

Nyck de Vries, Alexander Albon, Lance Stroll and Valtteri Bottas were also eliminated. We can say that it was a surprise that Lance Stroll was eliminated, especially in Aston Martin, which was expecting to be strong this weekend.

Q2 result:

Q1-Part one: Verstappen is the fastest, Perez crashed!

The qualifying rounds started with the 18-minute Q1 session as usual, and the drivers struggled to qualify for the second division by placing in the top 15.

As the light at the end of the pit lane turned green, the 18-minute session began and the drivers were on their way to the track, the first few minutes were intense by Q1 standards.

It wasn’t long before we saw the first red flag of the session: last year’s Monaco GP winner Sergio Perez broke through the barriers with 11 minutes left in the session!

Perez, who lost the rear of the car at the entrance of the first corner, hit the barriers on the left quite hard.

Fortunately, the Mexican driver was in good shape, but the RB19 was not in good shape. The left side of the vehicle was heavily damaged, and the power unit and drivetrain may also have been damaged.

With this big mistake, Perez said goodbye to the most important qualifying rounds of the season only 7 minutes later, and considering that he will start the Monaco GP from the last place, it will be very difficult for him to even score points for tomorrow.

With the removal of Perez’s car, the session started again with 11 minutes left and we saw a very busy track again.

While the rest of the session was uneventful, the fastest time came from Red Bull driver Max Verstappen.

Using the acceleration of the track to their advantage, Yuki Tsunoda and Alexander Albon surprisingly took the second and third places.

Carlos Sainz was fourth at Ferrari. Sainz, who was in the knockout zone throughout the session, had to put on a second set of new soft tires in his last attempt and was able to get out of the knockout zone in the last lap.

Lance Stroll rounded out the top 5, while George Russell was sixth. Lewis Hamilton, like Sainz, was able to get out of the elimination zone in his last lap and finished the session in 7th place.

Lando Norris, Fernando Alonso and Charles Leclerc rounded out the top 10.

In the elimination zone, the following 5 drivers took part and said goodbye to qualifying in the first division: Logan Sargeant, Nico Hulkenberg, Kevin Magnussen, Guanyu Zhou and the crashed Perez.

Q1 result: