Monaco qualifying ends like last year's with Charles Leclerc in the lead and a red flag at the end of the session Provoked by Perez who will start 3rd, ahead of Verstappen. Front row all red in Monaco, while there is nervousness between the two Red Bulls.
Monaco it's special, there's nothing to do – just because we heard Ivan Capelli's comment in the free 3. The most eagerly awaited and important appointment, perhaps even more than the race, is the very high intensity qualifying.
An apnea ride with eyes that go crazy to follow the frenetic activity on the track, this is what Montecarlo has accustomed us to and to which we would never want to give up. Unforeseen events, duels to the thousandth, little space but also fast points where it is easy to lose the car. Two teams that play for the world championship with every card and others who want to take advantage of the exception of Monaco to score important points such as McLaren e Mercedes.
Ferrari e Red Bull they did a great job over the weekend, and they come in tomorrow as big favorites and with very similar values.
Roulette stops on Red 16
Dreams made and broken. Today's for Charles Leclerc it is the fourteenth career pole. A fine finish, made even more special by the festive atmosphere that reigns on the streets of the Principality, the birthplace of driver number 16 who wears his colors on his helmet. Monaco has given us yet another proof of how certain nothing is until the checkered flag, especially in qualifying.
Charles Leclerc, stop the stopwatch on'1:11.376, an impressive time, when you think about how slow these cars are compared to last year's cars. But this makes us understand how important is quality and the talent of a pilot on a track like the one in Montecarlo. Charles does the magic in a constant question and answer with Perez e Sainz. The Spaniard in the last lap launched is blocked by Perez, sensationally against the wall at the tunnel entrance! The damage to Sainz's car should also be checked, as he was unable to completely avoid the Mexican. Furious Max Verstappen, only fourth, forced to park behind the RB18 of the companion, and the F1-75 di Sainz.

The first surprises of qualifications
In Munich, the weather can change suddenly. After a sunny day, Montecarlo was covered in menacing clouds that destabilized the riders and teams, who were in difficulty compared to FP3 due to a different track, with lower temperatures.
The first Red flag of the day almost arrives at the end of the first session after a contact of Yuki tsunoda with the guardrail. The Japanese driver manages to return to the pits but the session is interrupted anyway to allow the marshals to recover the debris left by Tsunoda. The traffic at the restart completely ruins the strategy of those who needed to place one last lap to save themselves. As gasly, who had shown really good pace, takes the flag for a matter of thousandths and clamorously leaves the scene getting a very bad one 17 th, unlike Yuki who, paradoxically, slips in for Q2. Also Stroll, home Aston Martin, is fooled by the game of flags and ranks Inline. Out too the two Williams of Albon, 16° e Latifi, 19th. last theAlfa Romeo di Zhou, which, barring possible penalties, will start from the bottom.
suffers theAlfa Romeo which, after the good performance a Barcelona, in qualifying in Monaco can not find confirmation and leaves Bottas in twelfth position. No improvement even for the two Haas, which continue to disappoint without major updates.
On the other hand, the step of the two is incredible Alpine in qualifying, dates for doomed at the beginning of the weekend. They qualify in Q3 and finish in seventh and tenth position with, respectively, Fernando Alonso also ended up against the wall in the chaotic final, e Stephen Ocon. Also good Lando Norris, 5th, once again ahead of the teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, who will watch it from afar, having only qualified 14°.
The British McLaren driver immediately set about dictating the pace, slipping between fourth and fifth place, annoying the two Mercedes, who managed to get a 6 th with Russell and a 8th with Hamilton. Immediately behind Lewis will start Sebastian Vettel. In Monaco, in the races he finished, he has never done worse than P5. Starting from 9th the road is a bit long but nothing is impossible, especially if we consider that the rain could come and upset everything.
Verstappen suffers.. Perez
Strange but true, in Monaco Verstappen in qualifying he had to surrender to his partner, Sergio Perez. The Mexican, since Friday, has managed to run better than the Dutch la RB18. Barcelona he probably triggered a mechanism in Perez's head and foot which clarified to the team the will to be able to fight with equal rights as his partner, specifying that he is still in the running for the fight in the world championship. Max, very nervous during the session, touched the wall several times but never got close to pole position. The last lap has an even more bitter taste if we consider that last year the Dutchman had to abort the last lap due to Leclerc's accident at the end of the session. The difference is that this time the red flag was caused by his partner team, who still doesn't know the extent of the damage caused by the impact with the wall.
