Verstappen on pole

MONACO – Max Verstappen delivered a spectacular late lap on yesterday to claim his maiden Monaco Grand Prix pole position in a thrilling and dramatic qualifying session.

Red Bull’s defending double world champion and series leader clawed back three-tenths of a second in the final sector to beat Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Charles Leclerc of Ferrari. “We knew this was going to be a little bit of a struggle for us, here on this circuit,” admitted the Dutchman. “In qualifying here, you need to go all out and risk it all.” Red Bull team boss Christian Horner described the lap as the ‘best of his career’.

Verstappen’s success with a best lap in one minute and 11.365 lifted him 0.084 seconds clear of Alonso, who said he had been driving “like an animal” and pledged to fight for victory in Sunday’s classic race. “Tomorrow, we will try to win the race,” he said. “It is a pity we couldn’t take pole but Max was a little bit faster.”

Local hero Leclerc, who had taken pole for the last two years, was downcast. Verstappen’s pole was the 23rd of his career and gives him an opportunity to extend his lead in the title race ahead of Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez, who won last year, but will start from the back of the grid after crashing out in Q1.

Esteban Ocon was fourth for Alpine ahead of Carlos Sainz in the second Ferrari, seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton in his revamped Mercedes and Pierre Gasly in the second Alpine.

After dominating final practice, Red Bull were hot favourites to repeat that success as qualifying began under blue skies and a very warm sun providing an air temperature of 25 degrees with the track at 50.