Whoever is fast in Monaco is truly fast. And Kimi Antonelli is lightning fast right now. In extremis, the young Italian was a fraction faster than Max Verstappen, who drove an extraordinary qualifying session but still left empty-handed. “This was a magical lap,” Antonelli said afterwards. Next to him on the front row is Verstappen, who reacted soberly himself: “I would have signed for that.”
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Ferrari had been assigned the role of big favorites beforehand, but Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have to settle for the second row. Hamilton in P3 is acceptable, but Leclerc is disappointed. The Monegasque was still working on something special in his last fast lap until he suffered oversteer in Tabac and hit the guardrail with his right rear wheel. His home race thus does not start as he had imagined.
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Behind the Ferraris is Isack Hadjar in P5, who impressed despite a crash in free practice. P6 is a painful one for George Russell: his teammate is on pole while he himself has had a session to quickly forget. McLaren watches from the fourth row. Oscar Piastri in P7 and Lando Norris in P8. Pierre Gasly and Liam Lawson complete the top ten.
At the back, it’s a familiar sight: Cadillac and Aston Martin at the end of the starting grid, but the big disappointment is Haas, which is performing far below expectations with Esteban Ocon in P17 and Oliver Bearman in P19.
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The Monaco Grand Prix starts at 3:00 PM.
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