00:00Around the final corner for Nico Hülkenberg, six times in the past, he's qualified 11th, started 11th here in Monaco, goes to the top of the pile for the moment with a 1.13.3, he's actually looked pretty competitive.
00:1119 of them out on track at the moment, just one car in the pits of Max Verstappen, and that means cars trying to attack, trying to prepare, others slowing down, and it gets pretty sketchy and scary out there.
00:24Over the line goes Leclerc, 1.13, he's stuck to the floor, is Oscar Piastri going quickest in the middle sector as Lando Norris crosses the line, goes quickest with a 1.12.8 and the track ramping up, getting quicker all the time.
00:38Yeah, Lando kept his tyres nicely to the end, let's see what Oscar Piastri's done, I think he'll go fastest with that, and does by some margin.
00:46This man has three poles, Charles Leclerc, home guy from Monaco, into Rascas now, and that looked pretty neat and tidy, patiently waiting to get on the throttle, then picking it up and down the straight for the DRS, one straight for DRS here, to do a 1.12.0, nearly half a second clear of Oscar Piastri and Lewis Hamilton now into second place.
01:07Here's Max Verstappen, though, very good middle sector for him, this is his first flying lap, dashes to the line, goes quickest by just over a tenth of a second from Charles Leclerc.
01:17The final corner, good middle sector, Piastri going well in the first sector, across the line goes Norris, and all the while the drivers are finding confidence and these lap times are tumbling down.
01:29Maximising the track width, oh dear, oh dear.
01:31And that's Lance Stroll, oh my gosh, lift up, swiping from Stroll.
01:39That was Lance Stroll, Martin, doing at the chicane what he did to Charles Leclerc at the hairpin in practice.
01:45That club Leclerc is gasoline, man.
01:48Do not see the difference in the sun.
01:51So he knew there was another car around him, but he didn't realise there was one behind, he thought it was the one in front.
01:57But that was Hamilton, wasn't it?
01:58Yeah, it was.
02:01That, that's less than a centimetre difference between all the way.
02:05And Hamilton, to be on the safe side, has just got one lap to show his worth down here, and it's basically he has shown his worth plenty of times in the past.
02:12Fifth fastest for Carlos Sainz, gets a round of applause, a 1.11.7 should be OK.
02:18Breaking a straight line, get all the downshifting done.
02:21Very late apex, pick up the throttle, not too much.
02:24This is a clumsy little off-camber corner, then you can let the car go.
02:28So DRS, wide open, hugged the inside, shortest run to the line, and that's P4 for Hamilton.
02:34Liam Lawson is in the bottom five, wanting to move out of there, and he does so.
02:39And that then drops Pierre Gasly back into that bottom five.
02:42And we are on board now with Gabriel Bortoleto.
02:45As Yuki Tsunoda goes 10th fastest, and Bortoleto gets out of the bottom five, and we've got a yellow flag.
02:52Antonelli.
02:53Antonelli has a problem out there, and that might slow a few down that are on a lap if they're approaching the scene of that Mercedes.
03:00He's hit the wall as Kimi Antonelli coming out of the Nouvelle Chicane, and that will bring an early end, I think, to the action here.
03:09And that, in his first Monaco, is not what Kimi Antonelli wanted.
03:13The red flag is now out.
03:15That is Q1 done and dusted.
03:17And it means that Franco Colopinto, Lance Stroll, Pierre Gasly, Oli Behrman, and Gabriel Bortoleto are all out of qualifying.
03:26Antonelli makes it through, but his car is not going to be lining up to take part in Q2.
03:32Let's have a look.
03:33We're going on board with him.
03:34This way, eyes have to adjust.
03:35Has he just got a bit greedy on the way in?
03:38He has.
03:39Yeah.
03:42Silliest little touch, but always has great consequences around here.
03:46Okay, mate.
03:46You're okay?
03:48I'm sorry.
03:50Yeah, I'm sorry.
03:51I'm sorry about it.
03:52You okay, though?
03:53Yeah, I'm sorry.
03:56Youngest pole sitter in any format in Formula One.
03:59Rookie here in Monaco, and that is an easy error to make.
04:03If you turn around the last part, Anthony Nogues, the front will slide, the back will slide, but have confidence, pick up the throttle and go.
04:10And the line comes up pretty quickly.
04:13And what are we looking at now for Charles Leclerc?
04:16George Russell, the only Mercedes taking part in Q2.
04:20Here comes Lando Norris, crosses the line, goes quickest.
04:23We're into the 110.
04:23He'll looking down across the principality.
04:26Lost power.
04:28Lost power.
04:29Hit a bump.
04:30Lost power.
04:30Oh, that's what happened to Antonelli, isn't it?
04:34In, I thought, watching Imola when he came off a serrated curb.
04:38And that's in the tunnel.
04:39That's a horrible place to be.
04:42They'll have to red flag that.
04:43Well, absolutely.
04:44George Russell's currently on the racing line going very, very slowly.
04:47Indeed, this is turning into double disaster in Monaco for Mercedes.
04:52Antonelli is out.
04:53It is a red flag.
04:55George Russell could find himself out as well, because that car has come to a standstill in the tunnel.
05:02That's wrecked his qualifying.
05:04I think that's game over.
05:07Sorry, mate.
05:08Got no battery.
05:11Let's see where the problem started for George Russell, then.
05:15Up the hill.
05:17Wow, he free-wheeled a long way, didn't he?
05:19Yeah.
05:22Well, he'd have been doing over 100 miles an hour.
05:25Yeah, but he's got to go through three corners, yeah.
05:29It's quite a steep drop down here.
05:30It certainly is.
05:31You can free-wheel at a speed.
05:32He's got a little bit of power, hasn't he?
05:36He's sort of ticked over at the moment.
05:39The worry there, Martin, he's not gone over a kerb.
05:44He did take the kerb at Sandoval, but to be honest, that's sort of a normal procedure there.
05:54You can feel the pain, can't you, of those Mercedes mechanics?
05:58The car slides over the top of the hill.
06:01Believe it'll stick and go.
06:03And go to the line, he does.
06:05Three tenths behind his teammate, Charles Leclerc.
06:09Just use the kerb to help the car straighten up.
06:12DRS is open almost instantaneously down that main straight.
06:16Norris goes quickest.
06:17And you think out in front, Lando Norris will be safe,
06:19but he's been told to cool down his tyres and go again as Max Verstappen crosses the line.
06:24Moves up from sixth to third fastest.
06:26Yeah.
06:27And right now, then, Max needs to find something else, doesn't he?
06:30Because at the moment, it looks like it's Advantage Ferrari and McLaren.
06:34I will box, isn't that?
06:36Yeah, Max.
06:38I cannot do one.
06:40Good effort, mate.
06:41Fernando Alonso currently seventh.
06:43Ocon's in the top ten, as is Sainz.
06:45Make that no Sainz.
06:46Eleventh now, because Hazard's just gone sixth fastest.
06:49Alex Albon goes into the top three for Williams.
06:54Sainz crosses the line.
06:55Sainz checks the cheque of flags.
06:57Sainz is out of qualifying.
06:59He's been sixth on the grid at the last three races.
07:01Not this week.
07:02And Tsunoda can't improve either.
07:05We've lost a Red Bull, and we've lost a Williams.
07:07We've lost both Mercedes, and we've got Nico Hülkenberg not making an impression on the timing charts,
07:13so we're going to lose him, too.
07:14Hi, Charles.
07:16Yeah, I'm in.
07:19It's so unfair, honestly.
07:21I knew it's going to happen like this.
07:23I knew it.
07:24Norris might be half a tenth ahead on this lap so far.
07:28Piastri crosses the line.
07:29A 1-10-5, which Charles Leclerc managed, of course, in FP2.
07:34We're on board now with Lando Norris.
07:36As he crosses the line, goes ahead of his teammate by 67 milliseconds.
07:42It's close once again, with the rest now queuing up.
07:46Lewis Hamilton goes third.
07:47Fastest more to come from him, I'm sure.
07:50Charles Leclerc losing a bit of time to the McLarens on this lap.
07:55He's pretty much had it all his own way in the sessions leading up to this point.
07:59Finds himself third fastest at the end of his first flying lap.
08:02Lovely traction into the final corner out of Rascas.
08:08Has it made enough difference?
08:10No.
08:10P4 at the moment.
08:11And as it's been the case for a lot of this season, the McLaren battle is going to be oh so close.
08:17Provisional pole is Oscar Piastri.
08:19Can Lando Norris, as he powers down the main straight, snatch it from him?
08:23Yes, he can.
08:24So it's Ferrari, it's McLaren, it's Red Bull.
08:26It could be anyone.
08:27It's not Lewis Hamilton.
08:29As he crosses the line, he moves up into third place.
08:32But his teammate Charles Leclerc, who's been leading the way all weekend long and going for four poles around Monaco, gets to the line now.
08:40And he's on pole again, it's Charles Leclerc.
08:43He's beaten the two McLarens who are coming back at it.
08:46Norris a better middle sector and Verstappen doesn't do it.
08:51But can Norris pick up time and steal that pole position back?
08:55Here comes Piastri to the line now.
08:58Third fastest only for the championship leader.
09:01And it's all down to Lando Norris.
09:03Leclerc, Norris, Norris, Leclerc.
09:05Crosses the line.
09:06Norris is on pole in Monaco.
09:08And boy, did he need a lap like that.
09:13All right, mate.
09:13Good at that.
09:14That's pole.
09:15Yeah, all good.
09:16Thank you, Gus.
09:19Did Lewis Hamilton impede Max Verstappen?
09:22They'll be looking at an incident where did Lance Stroll impede Pierre Gasly?
09:27And they'll have their adjudications before we set the grid.
09:31Stroll's already got a one-place penalty.
09:33Oli Behrman has got a ten-place penalty.
09:35And Lando Norris has got his 11th pole in his career and his first around the streets of Monte Carlo.
09:43Mercedes have got it all to do tomorrow.
09:45George Russell, Kimi Antonelli starting 14th and 15th.
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