Antonelli denies Verstappen for Monaco Grand Prix pole position

Andrea Kimi Antonelli snatched pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix away from Max Verstappen with his final lap of the session.

The Ferrari pair claimed the second row of the grid while George Russell struggled to sixth place in his Mercedes.

Q1

Leclerc set the pace throughout the first phase of qualifying, lowering his best time to a 1’13.293. Antonelli briefly slotted in behind him, until Verstappen took second place off the Mercedes driver.

Russell could not get close to his team mate’s times to begin with, sliding wide luridly at Mirabeau on one of his early efforts. He wound up six-tenths of a second off the pace of the other Mercedes.

Gabriel Bortoleto showed strong pace in the Audi in final practice but a slight clip with the barrier on the inside at the Nouvelle Chicane ended his qualifying session. The contact broke his front-left suspension and he came to a stop in the corner.

This was bad news for Oliver Bearman and Carlos Sainz Jnr, who had just dropped into the bottom six places after Pierre Gasly and Alexander Albon improved their times. The session resumed with just over two minutes remaining, handing them a last chance to improve their times.

Bearman narrowly failed to make it, catching a high-speed slide in the Swimming Pool section and missing the cut by a tenth of a second. The news got worse for Haas as Esteban Ocon lost his grip on 16th place when Carlos Sainz Jnr pulled out a 1’14.348 to grab a place in Q2. As usual, neither of the Aston Martins nor the Cadillacs escaped Q1.

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Q1 result

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Q2

Although Bortoleto made the cut for Q2, he was unable to take any further part. That meant just five of the remaining drivers faced elimination before the top 10 shoot-out.

The threat from Ferrari faded in the second stage of qualifying. Leclerc put up a 1’12.928 only for Lando Norris to pip that by nine thousandths of a second in his McLaren. Antonelli went faster still and Verstappen slotted in behind him, notwithstanding a busy end to his lap.

Hamilton was unable to beat his team mate’s time. As in the first stage, he complained his car felt too “on the nose” and by the time the session was over he was convinced something was seriously awry. “Something’s wrong with the car, mate,” he told race engineer Carlos Santi.

Russell still couldn’t get close to his team mate’s times and ended the session last among the drivers from the top four teams. While Antonelli lowered his best time to a 1’12.704, Russell was over half a second slower.

But Red Bull showed their hand on the final runs. Verstappen claimed the top spot from Antonelli with a clean lap that put him two-tenths of a second ahead. His team mate Isack Hadjar was close behind too, taking third place off Leclerc.

Gasly again made a late escape from the clutches of the drop zone, this time at the expense of Nico Hulkenberg, who took the Alpine’s place in the drop zone. Hulkenberg’s time was then beaten by both Williams drivers, though neither made the cut for Q3. They joined the Audis, Arvid Lindblad and Franco Colapinto in elimination.

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Q2 result

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Q3

Q1 pace-setter Leclerc suffered another setback as the final round began. He oversteered wide at Massenet on his first attempt and although he kept his car out of the barrier, he had to recover to the pits without setting a time.

That left the way clear for Antonelli to top the times after his first run, but it was a close run thing. Verstappen looked on course to beat Antonelli’s 1’12.375 until he ran wide at Rascasse and crossed the finishing line a mere thousandth of a second slower than the Mercedes driver.

Russell was again almost half a second slower than his team mate. He held fifth after the first runs, separated from Antonelli by Verstappen, Hamilton and Norris.

Leclerc left the pits early to make two attempts at setting a time. He produced a superb effort with his first run, a 1’12.351 provisionally putting him on pole position.

But Leclerc’s hopes of another home pole position were soon dashed. Verstappen produced a clean lap to take the top spot with a 1’12.094.

Hamilton went quickest in the middle sector but fell shy of Verstappen’s time. Russell couldn’t beat it either but his Mercedes team mate had a little more up his sleeve. Antonelli denied Verstappen by just four hundredths of a second.

Leclerc had one last chance to claim pole position but was already well down after the first sector. Risking it all into Tabac, he clipped the barrier at the exit and punctured his tyre, bringing a valiant effort to an end. He will share the second row of the grid with his team mate, behind Antonelli and Verstappen.

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Q3 result

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