Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc dominated FP3 and Qualifying to take pole for the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix.
Leclerc dominated FP3 to put himself as favourite going into Qualifying but overcame two competitive Q1 and Q2 segments to eventually claim his third pole position at his home race.
Now here is a roundup of all the action across FP3 and Qualifying for 2024 Monaco GP.
FP3
Mercedes’ George Russell was first out on track in a quiet start to the session but it was Haas’ Kevin Magnussen who set the benchmark time of 1m 14.683, although Lewis Hamilton went 0.579 seconds quicker moments later.
Red flags were out in the 12th minute after Valtteri Bottas stopped at Racasse after he hit the barriers on the exit of the Swimming Pool chicane.
The session resumed three minutes later and Russell went quickest with 1m 13.988 which was quickly beaten by Nico Hulkenberg before he regained top spot briefly, before Oscar Piastri went fastest with 1m 12.875.
Piastri lowered his benchmark time to 1m 12.684 in the 26th minute but Leclerc one minute later went 0.163 seconds quicker to sit fastest at the half-way mark of the session as everyone but Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso ran the soft tyre.
Stroll sat 10th whilst Alonso was 15th fastest as both drivers instead ran the medium tyres in their opening stint.
Attention eventually turned to the soft-tyre Qualifying simulations and Leclerc couldn’t be beaten as he lowered his benchmark time to 1m 11.369 to top the session from Verstappen by 0.197s.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m 11.369 |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.197 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.341 |
| 4 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.532 |
| 5 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.554 |
| 6 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.599 |
| 7 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.610 |
| 8 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.619 |
| 9 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | + 0.622 |
| 10 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.718 |
| 11 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 0.775 |
| 12 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.811 |
| 13 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 0.823 |
| 14 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 0.847 |
| 15 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.962 |
| 16 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 1.103 |
| 17 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 1.334 |
| 18 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB | + 1.460 |
| 19 | Guanyu Zhou | Sauber | + 2.461 |
| 20 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber | No Time |
Qualifying
Q1
Hamilton and Russell led a queue of cars straight out onto the circuit but it was Ricciardo who set a benchmark 1m 14.337 but was soon displaced by various drivers as Hulkenberg went top with 1m 12.416.
The bottom five after the opening laps compromised of; Gasly, Norris, Ricciardo, Zhou and Sainz although Sainz was impeded by Albon during his first flier.
Once the second flying laps were completed, Tsunoda, Ricciardo, Sargeant and Bottas joined Zhou in the elimination zone, whilst Russell posted 1m 11.492 to go quickest.
As the checkered flag fell, last year’s runner-up in Monaco, Alonso plus Perez became shock eliminations in 16th and 18th positions respectively, sandwiched by Sargeant who qualified 17th whilst Bottas and Zhou locked out the back row for Sauber.
Q2
Ricciardo was first out on track but it was Hulkenberg who set the benchmark time of 1m 11.928 which was soon beaten by several drivers, as Verstappen topped the opening Q2 runs with 1m 11.019.
Stroll, Albon, Magnussen, Hulkenberg and Ricciardo meanwhile sat in the elimination zone once the first runs were completed, whilst Piastri at the start of his second run produced 1m 10.756 to go fastest from Leclerc.
Norris however went 0.024s quicker than his McLaren teammate with 1m 10.732 as the track evolution began to ramp up at the end of the session.
At the checkered flag, Ocon missed out on Q3 in 11th position ahead of Hulkenberg, Ricciardo, Stroll and Magnussen.
Hulkenberg and Magnussen however were disqualified post-session due to a DRS infringement which meant that they instead started from the pit-lane.
Q3
Sainz was first out on track but Albon set the benchmark time of 1m 11.805 on used soft tyres which was quickly usurped, as Leclerc produced 1m 10.418 to go quickest from Piastri by 0.026s.
Verstappen, Sainz, Russell. Norris, Albon, Hamilton, Gasly and Tsunoda rounded out the top ten once everyone set their opening lap times.
Sainz however opted to go back out early for his final run in case there is a red flag but nobody could displace Leclerc who claimed pole with 1m 10.270 ahead of Piastri to clinch Ferrari’s 250th pole position in F1.
Sainz and Norris occupied the second row behind their respective teammates whilst Russell was fifth quickest ahead of Verstappen, Hamilton, Tsunoda, Albon and Gasly.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m 10.270 |
| 2 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.154 |
| 3 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.248 |
| 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.272 |
| 5 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.273 |
| 6 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.297 |
| 7 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.351 |
| 8 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | + 0.588 |
| 9 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.678 |
| 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 1.041 |
| 11 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 1m 11.285 |
| 12* | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 0.155 |
| 13 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB | + 0.197 |
| 14 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.278 |
| 15* | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 0.440 |
| 16 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 1m 12.019 |
| 17 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 0.001 |
| 18 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.041 |
| 19 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber | + 0.493 |
| 20 | Guanyu Zhou | Sauber | + 1.009 |
*Pit-lane start for Hulkenberg and Magnussen due to disqualification for a DRS infringement.
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