Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen reissued the duels they had in their karting days with a high-voltage pulse in Baku resolved in favor of the Monegasque by only 188 thousandths. In this way, the Ferrari man scores his first pole of the course, the third in a row in Azerbaijan, with which he will come out on top on Sunday, in the long race.
Fernando Alonso, more discreet than in his three previous classifications with Aston Martin, signed sixth on the grid, third row, behind Carlos Sainz, fourth.
In the first qualifying round, Verstappen started setting the fastest time, with Leclerc behind him, just 218 thousandths of a second behind (repeating what was seen in the first and only free practice), and soon with Fernando Alonso rising to third place, after 761 thousandths of the Dutch.
However, the session was interrupted with 10 minutes to go when De Vries crashed the Alpha Tauri into the wall of tyres, resulting in a red flag and suspension of qualifying. The directly injured party was Carlos Sainz, who had just put on a new set of tires and saw his attempt interrupted.
As soon as the session resumed, another red flag due to the accident of Alpine de Gasly against the wall. Another stop on the track.
On the return, with 7 and a half minutes on the clock, the rush and the dance of position changes. Leclerc snatched first place from Verstappen by 129 thousandths, Alonso kept third, tight (36 thousandths) by Checo Pérez, fourth. Then the two Mercedes got in, Russell fifth and Hamilton sixth; and Sainz reached ninth place.
The second sleeve was a continuation of the first, with a close battle between Leclerc and Verstappen for pole position. The Dutchman snatched the best time from the Monegasque in the last lap, with Pérez third and Sainz fourth. Alonso was fifth, close to the elite (one thousandth of his friend Carlos). And, fortunately for the Spaniard, without the threat of the Mercedes, one step behind, Hamilton 10th and Russell 11th, out of Q3.
The final Q3 was a delight due to the very close and even battle between the two old karting rivals, Verstappen and Leclerc. Such was the extreme equality that both marked the same time, nailed to the thousandth, in the first attempt: 1m40s445. In the event of a tie, and none improving on the second attempt, pole position would go to the Dutchman for completing the time before. Third was Pérez at 118 thousandths, fourth Sainz at half a second, fifth Hamilton at 7 tenths, and Alonos was behind to eighth, at 1.6 seconds.
The Monegasque and the Dutch were risking everything in one round. Pérez tried to interfere, but he fell behind, third, 40 thousandths worse than the two fastest. He drew Leclerc first with a stratospheric 1m40s203, two tenths less than his best time. And behind came Verstappen who fell short, 188 thousandths behind Ferrari. Therefore, third pole in a row for Leclerc in Monaco.
Alonso signed the sixth best time, which allows him to start in the third row with many options to fight for another podium, although at the start he will see them, in the same vein, with Lewis Hamilton, fifth. Sainz was fourth, a row ahead of the two old foes.
1.Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
2.Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
3.Sergio Pérez (Red Bull)
4. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
5.Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
6. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
7.Lando Norris (McLaren)
8. Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri)
9.Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
10. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
11. George Russell (Mercedes)
12. Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
13. Alex Albon (Williams)
14. Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo)
15. Logan Sargeant (Williams)
16. Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo)
17. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas)
18. Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
19. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
20. Nyck de Vries (Alpha Tauri)
