F1 2023: Max Verstappen takes first ever Monaco GP Pole ahead of Alonso and Leclerc

After having skipped the 2023 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix amid heavy flooding in northern Italy, F1 headed to the 3.337 km long Circuit de Monaco for the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix i.e. the seventh round of the season. Widely considered as one of the most important and prestigious automobile races in the world, late Ayrton Senna holds the title for most F1 wins (6) at Monaco.

It was Max Verstappen who grabbed his first pole position at the Monaco GP Qualifying today, after a sensational recovery in the dying moments of Q3. Verstappen will be joined by Veteran Fernando Alonso on the front row, while homeboy Charles Leclerc starts the race from the third spot.

Take a look at how the 2023 Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix Qualifying went down -



2023 F1 Monaco Grand Prix Qualifying 1

Last year's winner Sergio Perez's Red Bull went into the barriers with 11 minutes left on the clock, resulting in Red Flags, and bringing an end to Perez's Qualifying. Meanwhile his teammate Max Verstappen went fastest in Q1 with a time of 1:12.386, followed by Yuki Tsunoda in P2 and Alex Albon in P3. Carlos Sainz took the fourth spot, ahead of Lance Stroll in fifth. Logan Sargeant, Kevin Magnussen, Nico Hulkenberg, Zhou Guanyu and Sergio Perez were eliminated, and will line up at the back of the grid in tomorrow's race, in the same order.

2023 F1 Monaco Grand Prix Qualifying 2

This time around, it was Lando Norris who hit the barriers, however, he managed to qualify to Q3. Verstappen was again the fastest out there, followed by homeboy Charles Leclerc, and Fernando Alonso In P2 and P3 respectively. Mercedes duo Russell and Hamilton took P4 and P5 respectively. Oscar Piastri, Nyck de Vries, Alex Albon, Lance Stroll, and Valterri Bottas did not make it to the final qualifying.


2023 F1 Monaco Grand Prix Qualifying 3

Max Verstappen grabbed his first pole at Monaco GP after setting a sensational time of 1:11.365, +0.084 seconds faster than Fernando Alonso, who takes P2 in tomorrow's race. Charles Leclerc starts on second row, alongside Esteban Ocon. Carlos Sainz takes P6, ahead of Hamilton, Gasly, Russell and Tsunoda in P7, p8, and P9 respectively. While Lando Norris' McLaren was fixed to go back on track for Q3, he was the slowest in the final qualifying, which means he'll be taking P10 tomorrow.


Stay tuned to TOI Auto for the 2023 Formula One Monaco Grand Prix race report tomorrow.
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