the dutch pilot max verstappen (Red Bull) achieved the ‘pole position’ of the Monaco Grand Prix of Formula 1 by getting the best time in qualifying this Saturday, ahead of the Spanish veteran Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), second of the day.
For Verstappen, the current double world champion and leader of the general standings this season, it will be his fourth pole position in 2023 out of a possible six and the first of his entire career in Monte Carlo.
“In qualifying you have to give everything, you have to take risks, you have to give everything for everything,” Verstappen declared.
They were not just words because he had just shown it on the asphalt, where he was fifth in the final part of the session, before achieving a fast lap in which he touched the safety barriers twice… to get 84 thousandths of a second off advantage over Alonso, who was deprived of pole position.
The Frenchman will start from the second row on Sunday Esteban Ocon (Alpine), third, and the Spanish Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), who will start fourth after his teammate Charles Leclerc, who had been third, was penalized with three positions on the grid for having disturbed the British Lando Norris (McLaren).
Starting positions are especially important in the exclusive seaside resort, where the race takes place on a street circuit with narrow roads that make overtaking difficult.
Verstappen aspires to a second victory at the emblematic Monaco Grand Prix, after the one achieved in 2021.
Last year the victory in the Principality went to his Mexican teammate from Red Bull, Sergio Perezin a race in which Verstappen had to settle for a third position.
‘Checo’ Pérez was the big loser this Saturday. The Mexican driver, second in the World Cup 14 points behind his teammate Verstappen, went into a wall in the first round of the qualifying session (Q1), damaging his car. On Sunday he will start from last place.
Alonso, third, 30 points behind Pérez, has a good chance on Sunday in the fight for that virtual runner-up position.
The Monaco race, a historic Formula 1 event, is the occasion chosen by several teams, such as Mercedes, to test or present various improvements, which were initially expected for last weekend in Emilia-Romagna. So it couldn’t be because of the floods in that Italian region.
On Sunday, from 10 in Argentina, its pilots Lewis Hamilton and George Russell will start fifth and eighth.
Mercedes is currently third in the constructors’ World Championship standings, ahead of Ferrari but behind Red Bull and the breakout team at the start of the season, Aston Martin.
Source: Ambito
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