Leclerc takes pole at Monaco GP

The 23-year-old smashed into the barriers with 18 seconds of the session remaining and faced an anxious wait to see if the damaged car can be repaired without incurring any grid penalties. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was one of those who had to abort his final flying laps, but the Dutch driver stands to inherit pole if the Ferrari needs a new gearbox that triggers a grid drop.

Mercedes’s world championship leader Lewis Hamilton, who leads second-placed Verstappen by 14 points after four races, qualified a distant seventh. Topper Leclerc had taken provisional pole after the opening flying laps, with a time of 0.230 seconds quicker than Verstappen’s best. But, he got it all wrong at the Swimming Pool chicane.

Mercedes’s Valtteri Bottas qualified third, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr fourth. McLaren’s Lando Norris was fifth and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly finished sixth.