THRILLING QUALIFYING, MAX SCORED FIRST MONACO POLE

Max Verstappen in the spectacular qualifying on the streets of Monte Carlo managed to score his debut Pole, beating Fernando Alonso by only 0.084 parts of a second, while "colliding" twice with the barriers in the third sector.

Charles Leclerc managed to post the third fastest time, but is under investigation for impending Lando Norris' fast lap in the Q3 session. Esteban Ocon was fourth, ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr. in the top 5 gathered in less than three tenths.

Today's qualification was one of the most interesting in the past few seasons in the Formula 1 championship!

From the almost pole position of Alonso, to the fourth position of Esteban Ocon! The Frenchman, with an outstanding lap, was less than two tenths off the fastest time and ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr. with Ferrari.

On the other hand, Lewis Hamilton with the new Mercedes W14B reached the sixth starting position, ahead of Pierre Gasly, George Russell, Yuki Tsunoda and Lando Norris.

Qualifying in Monaco is the key session of the race weekend. Overtaking on this narrow track is almost impossible, the place of the finish depends on the starting position and the strategy.

At the same time, the winner of the pole position is vulnerable to "undercut" in the past seasons. With a short lap, the results are always close, the fight is for every tenth, thousandth.

The desire to succeed makes you take risks and sometimes leads to an accident, in Monte Carlo the line between success and failure is very thin, and qualifying is one of the most interesting of the season.

In the Q1 session, the traffic was very heavy, 20 cars on a narrow and short track. The drivers worked in a series of laps, fast - slow - fast, trying to secure the best position on the track in relation to the traffic.

The red flags appeared in the eighth minute, when Perez crashed his car into the barriers near the first corner. The Mexican was not hurt, but his RB19 was damaged.

The Red Bull car was quickly evacuated, but the repair of the barrier took longer. After a break of about 10 minutes, the action continued. Several drivers had contact with the barriers, Piastri, Verstappen, Stroll, but without consequences for their cars.

Lewis Hamilton is getting used to the new W14B, so he had time wiped out due to the cut at the chicane exiting the tunnel.

Max Verstappen had the fastest time, and the ten fastest drivers were only five tenths of a second apart. Logan Sargent, Kevin Magnussen, Nico Hulkenberg, Zhou Guanyu and Sergio Perez dropped out of the fight.

In the Q2 session, Verstappen immediately set a new benchmark - 1:12.038. Yuki Tsunoda blocked the front wheels before the chicane and aborted the attempt. Lance Stroll, among other problems, failed to notice the call that he had to head to the vague at the entrance to the pits, and continued to his garage. The stewards are reviewing this offence.

Esteban Ocon clipped the barrier in the first corner without any consequences for the car. In the second attempt, Verstappen was even faster with a time of 1:11.908.

Lando Norris crashed into the barriers at turn 12 on the way out of the chicane, but managed to get to his garage. Oscar Piastri, Nyck de Vries, Alex Albon, Lance Stroll and Valtteri Bottas did not make it to the final qualifying segment.

In Q3, in the first attempt, Alonso set the fastest time, three hundredths ahead of Sainz Jr., who was second fastest driver. In the second attempt, but with the same set of tires, Max Verstappen took over the top of the table, after an unsuccessful first lap.

At the second exit on the track, first Esteban Ocon drove faster than Alonso, then Leclerc, then again Alonso was on top, but Max regained the top of the table with an ultimate effort.

Fernando Alonso could only congratulate Verstappen on his debut pole position in the Principality, third of the season and 23rd of his career.

For now, pending a punishment for Charles Leclerc, Verstappen and Alonso will start from the first row, from the second Leclerc and Ocon, from the third Sainz Jr. and Hamilton.