Leclerc on pole for Monaco GP

Monaco may not always produce a race that is teeming with passes on track and that’s why pole position is critical. Many feel that Saturday is the real entertainment and Sunday is, well, less so.

A few factors about this year’s race. It could rain, the cars are newer, bigger, heavier and more challenging to drive on the streets of Monaco and to add to the suspense, there seems to be some stalemate in the continued contract extension between Monaco and F1 as this is the last year on the existing contract.

If you wanted a terrific story, there may be none better than Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who was born and raised in Monaco, taking pole position for Sunday’s race. He’ll be joined on the front row by teammate Carlos Sainz with the Red Bull’s of Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen on the second row.

Charles looked strong in all three practice sessions but the final run in Q3 saw a red flag with Perez in the wall at Portier which scuttled Verstappen’s shot at pole position or at least the front row.

Verstappen was not happy and will start down in fourth which leaves a tremendous amount of work to do on a track that isn’t famous for passing. This means Red Bull have to be creative in how they get Max up to the front on Sunday and he first has to get by his teammate, Perez, and the other Ferrari of Sainz.

Ferrari have a perfect situation with Leclerc on pole with Sainz as a buffer to hold doff the two Red Bull’s. If it rains, that could be a real game-changer.

Monaco GP Qualifying Results: