In a dizzying qualifying session, one of the most exciting and close in recent years, Max Verstappen frustrated Fernando Alonso’s first pole position in 11 years by just 84 thousandths of a second. The Spanish driver touched the preferred position in Monaco, but the champion imposed the law on him with a proverbial last sector, coming to hit the wall twice, to take his first pole position at the Monaco GP.
“That last sector is our weak point,” lamented Alonso, who lost 3 tenths of a second in that last section of the track with the devilish Dutchman.
The start, in any case, seems highly tense on the urban layout: Verstappen and Alonso in the first row, Leclerc and Ocon in the second, and Sainz, fifth, in the third, along with Hamilton, sixth.
The first qualifying round started with Red Bull dominating, the two bulls leading the times, with Alonso and Stroll trailing behind. But soon the surprise came with the accident of Checo Pérez, who went past the braking of turn 1 and crashed against the protections. Red flag and the Mexican, with his car destroyed, was left out of the game: he would start last on the grid. A big setback in Monaco.
The data is not banal: Alonso and Sainz get out of the way of a direct rival, who surely could occupy a podium place. Pérez was the last winner in Monaco and had two victories this season, the last one in the Baku street circuit.
At the restart, the remaining 10 minutes, Sainz gambled to enter Q2 in a very close last lap, with time to zero, and using a second set of soft tires to get through (he did 4th). Verstappen imposed his law, with 256 thousandths of an advantage over Tsunoda and Gasly. Alonso, without problems, signed the ninth time of this first qualifying phase.
In Q2, Verstappen once again set a dissuasive first time to start the sleeve, but Alonso soon fell into his shadow, only 69 thousandths; a notice to boaters. The Asturian was 3rd, surpassed by 4 thousandths by Leclerc.
The one who had a bad time in this series was Lewis Hamilton, who brushed the wall in the pool and almost ruined his classification. The Englishman also narrowly escaped, getting into the top 10 on the last lap with the 5th fastest time, ahead of Sainz, seventh. The big surprise was Lance Stroll, Alonso’s teammate at Aston Martin, who was left in the 14th time, out of the best.
Monaco’s Q3 was spectacular. In the first attempt, Verstappen set the fastest time, but Alonso with a stratospheric lap lowered his time by 4 tenths, an outrage, to take provisional pole position. The one who came closest to him was Carlos Sainz, who was second, just 29 thousandths of a second behind, and Leclec, third, 53. The two Spaniards dominated the first row of the provisional start. Seeing is believing, the never seen.
On the second attempt, the excitement continued with a poleman dance: Verstappen turned around and improved Alonso’s time by 52 thousandths, then it was Ocon with the Alpine who placed first, lowering the Dutchman by one tenth; then it was Leclerc, who was provisional first; then Alonso arrived with a stratospheric 1m11s449 for only 22 thousandths…
But the cookie monster was missing: Verstappen, who lost two tenths in the second sector, in the last section repelled three tenths and ended up taking pole position by only 84 thousandths over the Asturian. He was very, very close to Alonso’s 23rd pole. He has resisted him since 2012 (Germany, with Ferrari).
“Pole was very close and we have to be happy because we arrived in Monaco with some concerns about the temperature of the tyres. I did two laps in Q3 above the limit, I couldn’t have done better”, commented Alonso.
Statistics say that pole position is no longer so decisive in Monaco: in the last seven editions (since 2015), the poleman has only won two of the seven races (Ricciardo 2018 and Hamilton 2019). A reason for hope for Alonso.
