Leclerc earns poll at home GP while crashing out late in Q3; Verstappen, thwarted by Red Flag, settles for P2; Bottas P3 but Hamilton languishes in P7

The return of the classic Monaco street race to the F1 calendar after a year’s hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic was cause for celebration enough. But Saturday’s qualifying for tomorrow’s Grand Prix was a suitably scintillating event, fitting the already festive mood of the joyful Monegasques and annual visitors in attendance. Hometown hero Charles Leclerc put his Ferrari on pole for the team’s best start this year and first pole since 2019. It was also the local lad’s best qualifying effort in four attempts at his home race, although Leclerc somewhat perversely secured the top starting spot by crashing out after he blew the entry into the chicane just past the Piscene and smashed his car into the Armco barrier late in Q3. That brought out the Red Flag with not enough time to get the final quali session restarted and thwarted the last gasp effort of Max Verstappen’s hard charging Red Bull to wrest pole away from the formidable Ferrari man. Both have looked nearly equal all weekend long so far but Verstappen will have to settle for P2 unless there is enough damage to Leclerc’s Prancing Horse to force penalties for replacement parts overnight, a possibility the Scuderia are currently denying. If things do stay status quo, it is highly probable that the race victor will be either Leclerc or Verstappen, as passing is ultra difficult at this ultra-tight, ultra-slow, ultra-legendary street circuit and the winner usually comes from the front row of the grid.

Valtteri Bottas, the nominal number two Mercedes driver, was nearly as disappointed as Verstappen by the abrupt ending, as the Finn felt that he too had a shot to take pole with his final flying lap. Bottas will have to settle for P3 and the satisfaction of besting his superlative Silver Arrows teammate and current points leader Lewis Hamilton on the day, and by quite some distance at that. The normally dominant Hamilton never seemed to have a handle on his Merc and found himself bogged downing in an unlikely P7 starting spot when the session was called off. As good as the seven-time champ is, It will be tough for Lewis get a podium finish on the morrow and Verstappen could take a big bite out of the English legends current tenuous 14-point lead in the Drivers’ Championship. Unfortunately for Verstappen, however, his teammate Sergio Perez had another poor qualifying effort and could only muster the ninth fastest time, putting in doubt how much the veteran Mexican can really be of assistance to the Dutchman’s dreams of winning the race and overhauling Hamilton. The decision to go with the experienced Perez for 2021 is already coming under second-guessing, as so far he is not really faring any better than any of Max’s other younger teammates have done in the past.

Carlos Sainz pulled the second Ferrari up to P4, although the Spaniard was still disappointed with that result, as he had been neck and neck with Leclerc and Verstappen during the practice sessions. Still, it was a fine result for resurgent Ferrari after a terrible 2020 and the fabled team from Maranello have a very good chance of scoring a ton of points come race day. McLaren’s Lando Norris kept up his excellent qualifying form, slotting in at P5. But teammate Daniel Ricciardo had another down day in an up and down first season with McLaren when he was bounced in Q2. The affable Aussie will start way back in P12 and no matter how cool the team’s new throwback Gulf-colored livery, Ricciardo will have virtually no shot at winning his second Monaco GP from that lowly position.

Pierre Gasly acquitted himself well for AlphaTauri, as usual, and will start P6, while wise old head Sebastian Vettel used his massive experience around the streets of Monaco to secure the eighth fastest lap in his Aston Martin, only around three-tenths behind Hamilton. And Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi secured tenth on the grid in his Ferrari-powered C41, making it a very good day all around for Italians as well as Monegasques.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Monaco GP:

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 beginning at 9AM Eastern here in the States. It could be a big turning point in the championship with Mercedes struggling and Red Bull and Ferrari ascendent. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!