Monaco F1 GP: Verstappen on pole, then Alonso and Leclerc

Unstoppable. Max Verstappen conquers yet another pole position of the season but in Monte Carlo he frightens all his opponents for the character and aggressiveness with which he literally snatched it from the "evergreen" Fernando Alonso. The Red Bull driver, who for the first time in his career will start first on the Momegasco circuit, with an exceptional second part of the last qualifying lap managed to recover and overtake the Asturian. The Spaniard, thanks to his experience on the circuit and his second youth on the track, with Aston Martin had managed to stop the clock with the best time on the track before the Dutchman's paw. Behind them a good Charles Leclerc: the home driver, back from two poles at his home circuit, led Ferrari to the second row just a few hundredths away from Alonso. But it is yellow on the position of the ferrarista. His third place is being investigated by the race stewards: Leclerc slowed down the fastest lap of Lando Norris' McLaren and risks losing three grid positions. Esteban Ocon's excellent performance: the Alpine driver finished fourth on the grid ahead of Carlos Sainz's Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton's McLaren. Bad, however, the second Red Bull: in Q1 the Mexican Sergio Perez ended up against a wall in the Santa Devota corner, damaging the car, and will start last. However, Leclerc, who had taken the previous two poles in Monte Carlo, is not entirely satisfied. "It was a very complex qualifying in a weekend in which we struggled a lot with the car that does not behave in an ideal way in the bumps - explained the Ferrari driver - In qualifying we were able to work on the SF-23 and the performance improved a bit allowing us to get the third position very little from the pole position time. I'm happy with my lap even though I would have preferred to be in front of everyone. In view of tomorrow I need a little more luck than in previous years, the weather forecast says it could rain and if so we know that anything is possible". Carlos Sainz said: "In all honesty, I'm not happy with how things went in Q3. I had to overtake three cars on my last lap and this is far from ideal when the values are so close - said the Spaniard - I'm disappointed because up to that point the weekend had been quite positive. In the race, however, we will still have chances and we will try both with pace and with strategy to recover positions". (ANSA).