Sainte devote

Monaco Grand Prix: Ferrari's Charles Leclerc charged his way to pole position in the Monaco Grand Prix with a stunning qualifying display on home soil, getting the better of McLaren rival Oscar Piastri and Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz in Saturday’s all-important qualifying sessions.

Leclerc avoided any slip-ups to safely make it through Q1 and Q2 before unleashing his full potential in Q3, where he provisionally posted a time of 1m 10.418s and then bettered it with an electric 1m 10.270s – a target none of his rivals could beat.

Piastri went on to put his McLaren in second spot, ahead of Sainz and teammate Lando Norris, while reigning world champion Max Verstappen had to settle for sixth after hitting the wall at Sainte Devote on his final qualifying lap. It means the Dutchman’s run of successive pole positions comes to an end -– having claimed the previous eight in a row and drawn level with Ayrton Senna in the all-time list -– and leaves him with plenty of work to do on race day.