Leclerc on pole after exciting qualifying session in Monaco, Verstappen P6

Charles Leclerc has won qualifying in Monaco and will start from the most important pole position of the season in Sunday's race. Oscar Piastri will join Charles Leclerc on the front row, and Carlos Sainz rounded of the Top 3 in the principality on Saturday.

Charles Leclerc won an exciting qualifying session with a lap time of 1:10.270. The Monegasque driver put together a fantastic lap in his country, and finished ahead of Oscar Piastri. This was the Ferrari driver's third pole position is his home Grand Prix. Carlos Sainz could recover well from struggling a bit earlier in the free practice sessions, and he was followed by his former teammate, Lando Norris, and the leading Mercedes, George Russell

Max Verstappen made a mistake, hit the wall exiting Turn 1 on his final lap, and only finished in P6. Lewis Hamilton will start from seventh place. Yuki Tsunoda won the best of the rest contest for P8, as he will start ahead of Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly.

The biggest surprises of Q1, the two Haas cars were eliminated in Q2, as Nico Hulkenberg had an eventful session: after he first hit the wall exiting Turn 1, he also impeded Esteban Ocon.

Lando Norris was the quickest in Q2, and there were no surprise eliminations. Daniel Ricciardo struggled and had a big gap to his teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, while Pierre Gasly put together a great lap to eliminate Esteban Ocon.

As there was more and more grip on the track, it was an exciting first session in Monaco, with drivers constantly improving lap after lap, and only the two Stake F1 cars seeming to be out of contention of qualifying for Q2.

Russell was the quickest in Q1, while at the bottom, Fernando Alonso, Logan Sargeant and Sergio Perez were eliminated together with the two Stake F1 cars. Alonso was stuck in traffic in his lap, so the Spaniard will definitely not be satisfied. On the other hand, throughout the session, Perez was constantly on the limit of not making it through. Norris was also on the edge of getting knocked out, but he managed to put a safe lap together.