Kimi Antonelli has clinched pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix in a thrilling conclusion to qualifying, the Mercedes driver storming to the top of the timesheets ahead of Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.
After Antonelli set the pace during the initial runs of Q3, the likes of Charles Leclerc and Verstappen subsequently toppled him as the session headed towards its close – but the Italian displaced Verstappen in P1 on a lap of 1m 12.051s, marking his maiden Monte Carlo pole.
Verstappen has to settle for second place in the Red Bull, his effort being only 0.043s adrift of Antonelli’s, while Hamilton was just over two tenths away for Ferrari in third.
The full top 10 are- Pole: Antonelli, P2: Verstappen, P3: Hamilton, P4: Leclerc, P5: Hadjar, P6: Russell, P7: Piastri, P8: Norris, P9: Gasly and P10: Lawson.
What a result for Antonelli! He put it all on the line when it mattered and got the job done! As for his teammate, not a very good result at all as Russell is starting sixth, not really much he can do from there apart from waiting for other people’s mistakes.
A great qualifying for Verstappen, especially as the team was having issues the majority of the weekend, hopefully they can keep it up in the race. A great result for Hadjar, P5 for the Red Bull driver, a decent result after an eventful start to the weekend.
The Ferrari’s have had a great weekend so far! Hamilton starts third and home-town hero Leclerc starts fourth, I think if he didn’t hit the wall on his last flying lap he would be looking at a front row start if not pole, very unfortunate for him.
An okay result for the McLaren’s 7th and 8th, not good at all, it will be hoping drivers in front have problems for them to get further up the field and all about pit stop strategy!
Gasly starting ninth, another good result for the French driver, he will be looking to score points this weekend! And the same goes for Liam Lawson looking for another points finish.
It was one of those laps we call the magic lap. I was able to put [it] all together and it was such a close Qualifying with Max – I think in the first run of Q3 there was just one millisecond between us, but I knew the last lap was good and was just hoping that it would be enough. It was very close and I’m very happy with that. Massive thanks to the team because yesterday we struggled a little bit and today we were able to improve massively.
Antonelli on pole.
Jordan's Track Talk 
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