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“**** Lewis!” Verstappen curses Hamilton | 00:37
Lando Norris shrugged off his gremlins and revived his world championship bid on Saturday when he became the fastest driver in the history of the Monaco Grand Prix to claim pole position for Sunday’s classic race.
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Driving with impeccable judgement, pace and purpose, the 25-year-old Briton clocked a best lap in one minute and 9.954 seconds to outpace local hero and last year’s winner Charles Leclerc of Ferrari by 0.109.
It was the first time any driver had lapped the sinuous barrier-lined Mediterranean street circuit in less than 70 seconds and came only seconds after Leclerc had appeared to have secured his fourth Monaco pole position.
For Norris it was his first Monaco pole, his second this year and the 11th of his career – and a critical advantage for the slowest and shortest circuit of the season where only 10 drivers have won from lower than third on the grid since 1950.
While a disappointed Leclerc lamented traffic that hampered his first flying run, affecting his overall rhythm, Norris was buoyant after ending a dismal run in qualifying and falling 13 points behind McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri in the drivers’ title race.
“The team has done a fantastic job so thank you to everyone here and back at the factory,” he said. “These days don’t come easy and I am proud to give something back to them.
“It’s been a long time coming. I feel good and I don’t think you realise how good this feels with quite a few struggles over the last couple of months, especially here in Monaco. It’s a beautiful place and the hardest track probably to do it.
“Up against the home-town hero (Leclerc), I’m very proud of the whole team so I am pleased after all the hard work in the last few months.” Norris’s McLaren team-mate and
championship leader Oscar Piastri was third ahead of seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton in the second Ferrari, four-time champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull and remarkable rookie Isack Hadjar of RB.
– ‘Tricky’ –
Norris agreed that his mentality had been a key part of his success after admitting to self-doubts in recent weeks.
“Honestly, that’s the tricky part and to consistently find a lap time because you know it’s what the others are going to be doing and improving more and more.
“You’ve got to take a similar amount of risks, but when you get to Q3, the final lap is just about who can risk a little bit more and commit a little bit more.
“It was a nice and well put together lap and it feels very good when you cross the line and you know it’s all paid off.” He said he had not considered the mandatory two pit-stops strategy required on Sunday.
“Honestly, at the minute, I have no idea. I’m going to enjoy today and I’ve worked hard for today. I’m happy with qualifying and I’m going to live the moment a little bit and then I will focus on tomorrow.”
Team-mate Piastri, who leads him by 13 points after seven of this year’s 24 races, admitted he had endured a messy two days of practice and qualifying.
“I think I’ve hit more walls this weekend than I have in my whole career so it’s been untidy. I’ve been struggling to get into the groove a little bit and I think in qualifying I was much happier with things and I felt pretty good.
“We’ve been doing some digging this weekend and to come out with this result is a decent effort.”
He added: “We’re in good positions, but it’s still going to be an exciting race tomorrow with the two-stop so let’s see what happens.” Last year’s winner and local hero Leclerc said: “I’m just frustrated. We know we don’t have the car for wins this year.”
Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, was given a three-place grid penalty after accidentally impeding Max Verstappen during qualifying.
The seven-time world champion, driving for Ferrari, drops from fourth on the grid to seventh while four-time champion Verstappen, of Red Bull, profits to move up from fifth to fourth alongside world championship leader Piastri.
Hamilton’s misdemeanour came during the first qualifying session when he was told by his Ferrari race engineer Riccardo Adami that Verstappen was approaching behind him on a fast lap as they climbed towards Casino Square.
Hamilton moved to his left, but was then informed that Verstappen was on a slow lap – and changed his line which upset the Dutchman who was speeding towards him.
“It’s not nice,” said Verstappen, who discussed the incident with Hamilton soon after the session.
“The team told him I was driving slow when I was clearly driving fast. 2It’s not Lewis’s fault. I already spoke to him about it. It’s the team’s mistake.”
On an eventful day, Hamilton had crashed earlier at the end of third free practice triggering red flags that ended the session.
His car was rebuilt by Ferrari for him to take part in
Revised Monaco Grand Prix grid:
Front row Lando Norris (GBR/McLaren), Charles Leclerc (MON/Ferrari) 2nd row Oscar Piastri (AUS/McLaren), Max Verstappen (NED/Red Bull) 3rd row Isack Hadjar (FRA/RB), Fernando Alonso (ESP/Aston Martin) 4th row Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Ferrari), Esteban Ocon (FRA/Haas) 5th row Liam Lawson (NZL/RB), Alex Albon (THA/Williams) 6th row Carlos Sainz (ESP/Williams), Yuki Tsunoda (JPN/Red Bull) 7th row Nico Hulkenberg (GER/Sauber), George Russell (GBR/Mercedes) 8th row Kimi Antonelli (ITA/Mercedes), Gabriel Bortoleto (BRA/Sauber) 9th row Pierre Gasly (FRA/Alpine), Franco Colapinto (ARG/Alpine) 10th row Lance Stroll (CAN/Aston Martin), Oliver Bearman (GBR/Haas)
