Max vs Alonso: thrilling end to Monaco GP qualifying sees both on F1 front row

He would later say that it was one of the best laps he’d ever done at Monaco — after telling his team that he was pushing like an animal — and shot to the top of the leaderboard, as Verstappen ended the first sector of his final flying lap: 0.2sec down.

“My first sector wasn’t ideal in my final lap,” said the Dutchman. “I think Turn 1 was a bit cautious and then I knew that I was behind so the last sector I just gave it everything.

“In qualifying, you know you need to go out and risk it all.”

In the final sector from the swimming pool to the line, Verstappen gained 0.3sec over Alonso, visibly scraping the hoardings and reporting a heavy hit as he powered onto the main straight.

“We had to pull that out the bag,” he radioed, crossing the line 0.084sec ahead of Alonso. “I think that was one of the best laps [Max] has ever driven in quali,” Red Bull team boss Christian Horner told Sky Sports.

Pushed down to third was Charles Leclerc, little more than a tenth off Verstappen’s time, and he was followed by Esteban Ocon, who at one point held provisional pole with a sensational lap, 0.2sec slower than Verstappen’s final attempt. He qualified fourth, splitting the Ferraris.

However, Ocon will start third thanks to a post-qualifying penalty imposed on Leclerc. The Ferrari driver impeded Lando Norris in the tunnel and will drop three places on the grid.

Nowhere to be seen in the top ten is title rival Sergio Perez whose crash last year, late in Q3, brought an early end to the session and secured his grid position ahed of his team-mate — a tactic that Verstappen suspected was deliberate.

This time, Perez hit the first corner in the first stage of qualifying, eliminating him immediately and consigning him to last on the grid.

Alonso’s team-mate is unlikely to be troubling the leaders either after Lance Stroll was knocked out in Q2, with an error on his fast lap. He also lost time when he missed the weighbridge in the pitlane and had to be pushed back.

It leaves Verstappen and Alonso to fight it out from the front row of the grid, at a circuit where the first driver out of Turn 1 carries a significant advantage.

It’s very short [run] into Turn 1 but we have normally a good start this year; Max is a little bit inconsistent, so maybe it’s one of those ones tomorrow,” said Alonso. “We will try to win.”

The Aston Martin driver acknowledged that he may need the help of a Red Bull pitstop mishap or a rain shower to beat Verstappen. “We need help from Max,” he added.

Behind the frontrunners, the Mercedes drivers had a few brushes with elimination, but both start in the top ten. Lewis Hamilton, with a set-up that made his significantly updated car difficult to drive, will be fifth on the grid behind Carlos Sainz, followed by the demoted Leclerc, Pierre Gasly and then George Russell. Yuki Tsunoda also made the final ten and starts ahead of Norris.

The appearance of the McLaren driver in Q3 was little short of miraculous, after he broke his front suspension in Q2 when his front-left wheel hit a barrier at the Nouvelle Chicane, just after the tunnel.

Mechanics frantically repaired the car and the McLaren left the garage with six minutes to go, only to have to lift on his final flying lap for the slow-moving Leclerc.

2023 Monaco Grand Prix qualifying results

*Leclerc starts sixth after a three-place grid drop for impeding Norris