Leclerc Tops Monaco Qualifying But Race Spot in Jeopardy After Crash

Photo Credit: FIA Pool/LAT Images/Pirelli

 

In the conclusion of the Spanish Grand Prix, there was a noteworthy statement made by Scuderia Ferrari’s team driver Charles Leclerc ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix. He asserted that the group’s strength in the third section of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya during the Spanish Grand Prix was an indication that the Italian Formula 1 team would be strong on the Monte Carlo temporary street course.

Following Friday’s on-track action in Monaco, Leclerc's admittance was supported in spectacular fashion. In the second practice session the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr. finished first and second fastest. Entering qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix, there was a realistic chance the Ferrari team could capture their first pole position since the 2019 Mexican Grand Prix. In the hands of the event’s home country favourite, the red car squad prevailed in qualifying although a major setback could remove the Ferrari race car from the top place on Sunday’s grid.

Posting a lap time of 1 minute, 10.346 seconds on the time chart of the Q3 session, Charles Leclerc’s #16 Ferrari clipped the turn 15 barrier in the late seconds of the final qualifying session and would crash. A red flag ended qualifying cementing the Monegasque driver as the fastest and provisional pole sitter for the 2021 Monaco Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc’s starting position is contingent to the extent of the damage to the Ferrari SF21 race car. At the time this qualifying recap has been written, the Ferrari team has stated there was no serious damage spotted to the #16 car’s gearbox but an additional inspection will take place prior to Sunday race. A change to the gearbox could require the incurrence of a five-grid place penalty.

 

Said to have mixed feeling regarding the pole effort, Charles Leclerc ended his post-race Ferrari statement saying “Whatever the outcome, I will give my all tomorrow. It feels great to be at home and to see all the fans around the track. It’s Monaco, it’s very unpredictable, and also challenging for us drivers, especially in the race with so many laps.”

Photo Credit: Foto Colombo Images/Scuderia Ferrari Press Office

If not for the wrecked car at the end of the qualifying session at Monaco, Scuderia Ferrari would have had a lot to celebrate. In addition to Charles Leclerc’s top time, Carlos Sainz Jr. delivered a solid performance on Saturday ultimately resulting in a fourth place starting spot on Sunday’s grid. The struggles of the 2020 Ferrari Formula 1 team are well-documented but the COVID-19 pandemic also changed the historic brand’s intentions to commemorate their 1,000^th grand prix start. Meant to take place at the 2020 Monaco race, the event’s cancellation and the reworked Formula 1 schedule caused for a race on Ferrari’s Mugello circuit to be the thousandth event for the team in the series.

Hampered from mounting a late session charge for the pole, Max Verstappen finished Monaco Grand Prix qualifying in the second place position. Along with Ferrari, Red Bull Racing team has displayed the most consistent front-running pace during this weekend on the 19-turn, 3.337-kilometer track. Verstappen was quickest in Saturday’s practice while teammate Sergio Perez posted the fastest time in the first practice session on Friday. Perez will start the Monaco Grand Prix in ninth place as the Mexican was unable to find the same pace as Verstappen throughout qualifying citing dropping track temperatures and traffic.

Photo Credit: Steven Tee/ LAT Images/ Pirelli

The often-dominating force of the Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 Team showed a more temperate performance on the tight street of Monaco. Valtteri Bottas settled for third on the grid for Sunday’s 78-lap event citing the late red flag as costing him a chance to take pole. The winner from the last Formula 1 race in Spain, Lewis Hamilton has appeared out of regular form during this weekend through practice and qualifying. Though Hamilton progressed into Q3 in qualifying, he experienced a lack of grip in his #44 Mercedes-AMG race car mustering a seventh place starting spot for the race.

Running historic Gulf oil colouring for the Monaco Grand Prix weekend, McLaren Racing had a qualifying outing that netted mixed results. Lando Norris will start Sunday’s main event from the fifth grid position but Daniel Ricciardo, 2018 winner of the Monaco Grand Prix, failed to post a top-10 time in Q2 and settling for 12^th place. The remainder of the top 10 starters is also the lone team entrants that broke into Q3. Scuderia AlphaTauri driver Pierre Gasly will roll off the grid in 6^th place, 2011 and 2017 Monaco winner Sebastian Vettel will start 8^th for Aston Martin Racing and Antonio Giovinazzi scored an impressive 10^th place starting spot for Alfa Romeo Racing.

Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher crash in the final practice and was unable to post a time in Saturday’s qualifying at Monaco. The Formula 1 rookie will start at the rear for Sunday’s race.

Start time for the 78-lap, 2021 Monaco Grand Prix is set for 3 p.m. local time (9 a.m. Eastern time).

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2021 Formula 1 Season
Monaco Grand Prix
Qualifying Results
Pos #	Car #	Driver	Team	Engine
1	16	Charles Leclerc	Scuderia Misson Winnow Ferrari	Ferrari
2	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	Honda
3	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes-Benz
4	55	Carlos Sainz Jr	Scuderia Misson Winnow Ferrari	Ferrari
5	4	Lando Norris	McLaren F1 Team	Mercedes-Benz
6	10	Pierre Gasly	Scuderia AlphaTauri	Honda
7	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes-Benz
8	5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team	Mercedes-Benz
9	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull Racing	Honda
10	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing	Ferrari
11	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine F1 Team	Renault
12	3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren F1 Team	Mercedes-Benz
13	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team	Mercedes-Benz
14	7	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo Racing	Ferrari
15	63	George Russell	Williams Racing	Mercedes-Benz
16	22	Yuki Tsunoda	Scuderia AlphaTauri	Honda
17	14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine F1 Team	Renault
18	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams Racing	Mercedes-Benz
19	9	Nikita Mazepin	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	Ferrari
20	47	Mick Schumacher	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	Ferrari

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2021 Formula 1 Season: Monaco Grand Prix Preview

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	Monaco Grand Prix
Race Date	May 23, 2021
Location	Monte Carlo, Monaco
Track Name	Circuit de Monaco
Course Length	3.337-kliometer (2.074-mile)
Laps	78
2019 Pole Winner	Lewis Hamilton
2019 Pole Time	1:10.166
Past Five Grand Prix Winners
No Race Held in 2020
2019	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes-AMG
2018	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer
2017	Sebastian Vettel	Scuderia Ferrari
2016	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes-AMG
2015	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes-AMG

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Lewis Hamilton Wins His Fifth Consecutive Spanish Grand Prix

Photo Credit: Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.

The fourth event of the 2021 Formula 1 season, the Grand Prix of Spain was the second week in a row that drivers and teams of the top open wheel racing series were pressed into competition. So far in this grand prix year, a fierce battle between Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team and Red Bull Racing led by drivers Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen has delivered on the pre-season precise of being a close, enduring affair. In qualifying, Hamilton’s #44 car narrowly bettered the Honda-powered race machine of Verstappen for what was the British driver’s 100^th career Formula 1 pole.

With two fairly equal competitors in 2021, the results in the past three grand prix events ended in favour of the party that avoided a major mistake. For the third time in four races, Lewis Hamilton would be the driver closest to perfection as he sailed to the win at the Spanish Grand Prix.

While the majority of the race was led by the Honda-powered Red Bull race of Max Verstappen, the Dutch driver was unable to hold off the rush of the #44 Mercedes. Placed on a two-pit stop strategy, Hamilton was trailing the Red Bull Racing entry shortly before he took a set of scuffed medium compound tires on lap 42. Falling to almost 24 second behind Verstappen when he returned to the track after leaving pit road, Hamilton methodically ran down the #33 car with lap times often a second faster than the leader. At the start of lap 60, the Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes AMG race car superior grip and some assist from DRS was too much for the Red Bull Racing pilot. Taking the lead into turn 1, Hamilton comfortably drove to his fifth consecutive victory at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Photo Credit: Charles Coates/LAT Images/Pirelli

“What a day! It was a remarkable job by the whole team again this weekend and it’s so good to see fans back here.” said the defending Formula 1 World Drivers’ Champion in a post-race release from the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team adding his pleasure to see several Union Jack flags in the grandstands. Lewis Hamilton’s 98^th career victory in the series places him in a 14-point lead in this season’s point standings after four races.

 

An opening start where Max Verstappen shot to the lead over the polesitter Lewis Hamilton was not effort to secure victory in Spain. Hindered by a tire change on the first pit stop that lasted more than four seconds and leading on worn medium compound tires towards the end of the Spanish Grand Prix, Verstappen came up short of winning again at the track where he claimed his first Formula 1 victory in his debut with Red Bull Racing in 2016. Verstappen’s second place finish comes with the consolation of claiming the race’s fastest lap. The #33 Red Bull Racing car was summoned to pit road for soft compound tires in the successful campaign for the extra point in the event. The 2021 Spanish Grand Prix was Max Verstappen’s 100^th start with the Red Bull Racing team.

Photo Credit: Mark Sutton/LAT Images/Pirelli

As was the case with Hamilton and Verstappen finishing in the same spot as their qualifying position, third and fourth place on the starting grid crossed the line after 66 laps in the same spot. Valtteri Bottas grabbed the final podium spot with his Mercedes AMG race car while Charles Leclerc crossed the line in the fourth position. Overcoming a difficult qualifying outing where the Mexican settled for eighth place, Sergio Perez drove his #11 Red Bull Racing vehicle to fifth place at the end of Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix. The top-finishing McLaren Racing entrant of Daniel Ricciardo settled for sixth place. The Australian described the event in a post-race press release saying, “It was a good weekend. I would say the best weekend so far as a whole and I felt like I got the maximum out of the car today.”

Photo Credit: Jiri Krenek for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.

The second Scuderia Ferrari car drive by Carlos Sainz Jr. was the highest-finishing Spanish native in the 2021 Formula 1 race on the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Fellow Spaniard Fernando Alonso came across the line in 17^th place after a gamble to gain a top-10 finish on a single pit stop strategy on medium compound Pirelli tires failed to pay off. Alonso’s Alpine F1 Team teammate Esteban Ocon insured the squad gained points in the Spanish Grand Prix taking ninth place behind the McLaren Mercedes of Brit Lando Norris. Ocon was the only driver to collect points after the warm 66-lap event on a single tire change. Pierre Gasly finished 10^th and took the point final of the event in what was an aggressive fight for the spot in the final laps that involved Fernando Alonso and the Aston Martin F1 Racing Team’s Lance Stroll. The only driver not running at the end of the Spanish Grand Prix was Sceuderia AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda who retired on track due to a yet-to-be unidentified issue.

The next race on the Formula 1 racing calendar is the historic Monaco Grand Prix with the main event scheduled for May 23^rd.

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2021 Formula 1 Season
Spanish Grand Prix
Race Results
Pos #	Car #	Driver	Team	Engine
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes-Benz
2	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	Honda
3	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes-Benz
4	16	Charles Leclerc	Scuderia Misson Winnow Ferrari	Ferrari
5	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull Racing	Honda
6	3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren F1 Team	Mercedes-Benz
7	55	Carlos Sainz Jr	Scuderia Misson Winnow Ferrari	Ferrari
8	4	Lando Norris	McLaren F1 Team	Mercedes-Benz
9	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine F1 Team	Renault
10	10	Pierre Gasly	Scuderia AlphaTauri	Honda
11	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team	Mercedes-Benz
12	7	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo Racing	Ferrari
13	5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team	Mercedes-Benz
14	63	George Russell	Williams Racing	Mercedes-Benz
15	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing	Ferrari
16	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams Racing	Mercedes-Benz
17	14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine F1 Team	Renault
18	47	Mick Schumacher	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	Ferrari
19	9	Nikita Mazepin	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	Ferrari
20	22	Yuki Tsunoda	Scuderia AlphaTauri	Honda

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