Leclerc takes successive Monaco poles, Verstappen fourth

Charles Leclerc captured back-to-back pole positions for Formula 1’s Monaco Grand Prix amid a bizarre conclusion to qualifying.

Leclerc posted a benchmark of 1:11.376s to sit comfortably clear of the opposition ahead of the final runs.

Leclerc was on course to improve his pole position time but the session was red-flagged behind him on track following an unusual incident.

Sergio Perez spun into the wall through Portier and was collected by the pursuing Carlos Sainz, who half spun in an attempt to avoid the Mexican.

That blocked the track for the following cars and the session was red-flagged as a result.

With only half a minute left on the clock the decision was made not to resume the session, sealing pole position for Leclerc.

Sainz completed a 1-2 for Ferrari, two-tenths behind his team-mate, while Perez was third.

World Champion Max Verstappen wound up fourth on a low-key day for last year’s Monaco victor.

Lando Norris consolidated his fine weekend with fifth place, ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell.

Russell completed his hot lap before the red flag to move up the order but team-mate Lewis Hamilton’s final effort was scuppered by the stoppage.

That left Hamilton down in eighth spot, behind Fernando Alonso, who ran off into the Mirabeau barriers at the same time as Perez’s accident.

Sebastian Vettel and Esteban Ocon rounded out the top 10.

Yuki Tsunoda caused a brief red flag in Q1 when he clipped the barrier on the entry to the chicane.

Tsunoda was able to return to the pits for repairs and progressed through he session, going on to qualify in 11^th place.

Valtteri Bottas suffered a rare Q2 elimination in 12^th spot, while neither Haas driver made it through to Q3, leaving Kevin Magnussen 13^th and Mick Schumacher 15^th.

Daniel Ricciardo’s difficult run of form continued as he languished in 14^th place for McLaren.

Neither Williams driver made it out of Q1, with Alexander Albon and Nicholas Latifi 16^th and 19^th respectively.

Pierre Gasly was unable to start his final flying lap after missing the cut-off in the wake of a brief red flag caused by team-mate Tsunoda.

Gasly had been firmly in the top 10 in the final practice session earlier on Saturday.

Gasly failing to reach the line in time for his last lap left him shuffled down to 17^th spot, with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll 18^th.

Zhou Guanyu was in the same predicament as Gasly and wound up at the foot of the order.

Sunday’s 78-lap Monaco Grand Prix is scheduled for 15:00 local time

	Position		Driver	Team	Time	Gap
	1		Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:11.376
	2		Carlos Sainz Jr	Ferrari	1:11.601	0.225
	3		Sergio Perez	Red Bull	1:11.629	0.253
	4		Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:11.666	0.290
	5		Lando Norris	McLaren	1:11.849	0.473
	6		George Russell	Mercedes	1:12.112	0.736
	7		Fernando Alonso	Alpine	1:12.247	0.871
	8		Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:13.047	1.184
	9		Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	1:12.732	1.356
	10		Esteban Ocon	Alpine	1:13.047	1.671
	11		Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	1:12.797
	12		Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo	1:12.909
	13		Kevin Magnussen	Haas	1:12.921
	14		Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	1:12.964
	15		Mick Schumacher	Haas	1:13.081
	16		Alex Albon	Williams	1:13.611
	17		Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	1:13.660
	18		Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	1:13.678
	19		Nicholas Latifi	Williams	1:14.403
	20		Guanyu Zhou	Alfa Romeo	1:15.606