Leclerc home pole as Verstappen's qualifying record ends in Monaco
Charles Leclerc claimed pole position for his Monaco home grand prix in another attempt to get a maiden victory there as Max Verstappen's 100% season record in qualifying came to an end on Saturday.
Red Bull's triple world champion and 2024 leader has to be content with sixth place on Sunday's grid which means he effectively needs a miracle to win because overtaking is all but impossible on the narrow street course.
Ferrari's Leclerc clocked 1 minute 10.270 seconds on the 3.337-kilometres track in the principality to finish .154 of a second ahead of McLaren's Oscar Piastri.
Carlos Sainz was third in the other Ferrari, with McLaren's Lando Norris and George Russell of Mercedes also ahead of Verstappen who did not manage a final perfect lap.
Happy Leclerc hopes to come third time lucky
"It was nice. The feeling after a qualifying lap is very special here. Really happy about the lap. The excitement is so high. It feels really good," the Monegasque said.
"However, now I know more often than not in the past, that Qualifying is not everything.
"As much as it helps, we need to put everything together for Sunday's race. In the past here we didn't manage to do so, but we are in a stronger position and we are a stronger team. I'm sure we can achieve great things tomorrow and the win is the target."
Leclerc has never made the podium in an F1 race in his birth and home town despite pole positions in 2021 and 2022. He missed the 2021 race owing to a driveshaft failure just before the race and had to settle for fourth in 2022 after a poor pit stop.
Ferrari hope for team effort
"I need a good launch off the grid, then once we do that, hopefully Carlos can have a great start and follow me into turn one," Leclerc said.
"If we are one-two, we can manage that as a team. That would be the perfect scenario. But whatever happens we need to bring that victory home."
Sainz said: "Anything can happen and we will give it our best shot. The priority will be to win with Charles tomorrow."
Team principal Fred Vasseur told Sky TV: "The race is tomorrow, you don't score points on Saturday, we just have to stay calm and prepare for tomorrow. It's a good statement, a pole in Monaco is always the best position for the race, and in itself a good challenge and a good reward."
Red Bull face uphill battle
Verstappen dominated qualifying for all previous 2024 grands prix, and with pole at the 2023 season-ender as well had equalled the record of eight consecutive poles set by the late Ayrton Senna, before failing to gain sole possession of the record.
Verstappen leads the championship 48 points ahead of Leclerc but a sixth season victory in the eighth race seems out of reach from the third row.
"The race is pretty much done barring safety cars. But we will come back fighting," team principal Christian Horner said.
"Our race pace has been pretty good but whether we can demonstrate that, I'm not sure depending on how the traffic plays out."
Sergio Perez fared even worse in the other Red Bull as he managed only 18th, and their was also big disappointment for Aston Martin veteran Fernando Alonso who had to be content with 16th.
