Monaco GP Qualifying: Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton explain most special Saturday of F1 season

The Monaco Grand Prix hosts the most exciting Qualifying session of the Formula 1 season, with the line between risk and reward thinner than ever; watch Qualifying on Saturday at 3pm and the Monaco Grand Prix itself on Sunday at 2pm, live on Sky Sports F1

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Max Verstappen beat Fernando Alonso to pole position in thrilling circumstances at last year’s Monaco GP

The Champions League final, Sunday at The Masters, the first day of a Test match at Lord’s, Andy Murray or Emma Raducanu in a Wimbledon thriller – some sporting events are quite simply not to be missed, and Monaco Grand Prix Qualifying is one of them.

Saturday’s session, live on Sky Sports from 3pm, is the only time during the entire weekend when drivers will risk being 100 per cent flat out on the famed street circuit, where the slightest error can result in the biggest of crashes.

The sight of the world’s best drivers and race cars navigating the tight twists and turns of the principality, repeatedly brushing barriers and avoiding despair by millimetres, is as must-see as sport gets.

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An ongoing criticism of the event as a whole is that overtaking is so difficult that it usually requires adverse weather or a mistake for the pole-sitter to be displaced in Sunday’s race, but that also serves to raise the stakes on a Saturday.

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Verstappen hit the wall at Turn Seven during Friday’s second practice and was forced to crawl back to the pit lane

With the drivers acutely aware of the importance of the session, particularly the 12-minute Q3 shootout to conclude it, a tension that isn’t replicated at any other point of the season is created.

Ahead of the 2024 edition, the drivers, including several who are set to be in the thick of the battle for pole, explained what makes Monaco Qualifying so special.

‘The risk is exciting’

F1 drivers are almost constantly playing a game of risk and reward from the cockpit, but it’s undoubtedly at its most intense in late May in Monaco.

No driver will be under more pressure than Charles Leclerc, who is seeking to end a ‘curse’ at his home circuit that has seen him fail to score a podium in any of his previous appearances at the race.

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Charles Leclerc says he is confident in the Ferrari car after a successful first day at the Monaco GP but has noticed that Mercedes is also very fast this weekend

The fact that the Ferrari driver set a searing pace on Friday to establish him as the early favourite for qualifying, and subsequently the race, will only increase the burden of expectation he faces.

“I think what you have in Monaco that you have maybe a little bit less on other tracks, on other city tracks as well, is just a risk assessment,” Leclerc said. “And that’s where a driver can make a bit more the difference by taking more risk.

“It either pays off or not at all. But this is something that I particularly appreciate from this track. As soon as you try and go a bit more on the limit, you straight away see it on the lap time. And obviously coming into Q3, having done so many laps, you start to get pretty close with the walls.

“But it’s exciting. I don’t get that feeling anywhere else on the calendar. So I think risk assessment is what makes the difference here in Monaco.”

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Leclerc was unable to start the 2021 Monaco GP from pole due to problems with his gearbox

While his moment of truth is likely to come in either Q1 or Q2 due to Williams’ lack of pace, Alex Albon shares Leclerc’s assessment.

“It’s not really a pressure in terms of comparing yourself to rivals or whatever, but it’s more just yourself,” Albon said.

“And it’s kind of this feeling of, you know, ‘how much risk are you taking?’ And that bit is exciting. I think it’s one of the few races, as Charles said, maybe the only race, where you finish a lap and you feel like you’ve put it on the line. So that’s pretty unique.”

‘Less about tyres and more about nailing it’

An age-old criticism of Formula 1 is that the quality of the car, rather than driver, decides the outcome of too many races. While that is still partially true at Monaco, a driver quite simply cannot secure pole position without risking it all.

At many of F1’s other circuits there is also a huge amount of emphasis placed on getting the tyres in the right operating window, with this element often decisive in the battle for pole.

The drivers agree that the playing field is at least somewhat levelled here, with the rewards for a special lap that much greater than anywhere else.

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Highlights of Friday practice from the Monaco Grand Prix

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri is one of several drivers deemed to have at least some chance of denying Leclerc pole, while he also faces the challenge of going up against his in-form team-mate Lando Norris.

“I think here is a bit more focused on the driver,” the Australian said. “In terms of tyres and stuff like that, it makes less of a difference here. And if you really nail everything in terms of driving and getting your apexes, your braking points right, you can find a lot of time. Especially with so many slow corners, that’s where you find the most.

“So it will be less about the tyres and whether they’re in the window, out the window, and probably just more about who’s nailed the lap, which I think is a very exciting thing for everybody, and a bit more straightforward.”

Hamilton inspired by history

In what will be his 17th Formula 1 appearance at the Monaco Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton still gets an unrivalled thrill from driving in his adopted hometown.

For the seven-time world champion, knowing he is following on the racing line of his hero Ayrton Senna, among others, adds to the occasion.

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Following Friday practice at the Monaco Grand Prix, a confident Lewis Hamilton says that the Monaco ‘track is amazing!’

“Monaco’s more special than the other street circuits, the history,” Hamilton said.

“When you’re going through the tunnel and you know that Ayrton and [Alain] Prost, and all the greatest before you, got to drive through there.

“The other circuits you’re driving on there and you’re the one that in 10, 20 years’ time, someone will be saying you were driving there.

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Mercedes’ Hamilton topped the timesheets in first practice at the Monaco Grand Prix

“And they have more run-off areas all the other street circuits. This one just each sector is special.”

While it’s been an underwhelming start to Hamilton’s final season with Mercedes before joining Ferrari, the Brit’s “best day” of the season on Friday has boosted hopes of a surprise success.

‘You forget that there are walls’

Judging by the reaction of the drivers to Friday practice, Leclerc’s biggest rival for pole position should be his team-mate, Carlos Sainz.

While Leclerc has a reputation for being one of, if not the best, over one lap, Sainz has outperformed his team-mate in several key moments previously, and discounting him on Saturday would be foolish.

Looking back at Sainz’s comments from Thursday, it is actually of little surprise that Leclerc was the faster Ferrari driver on Friday, and a warning as to what the Spaniard could produce.

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Verstappen was inches away from the barriers as he pushed his Red Bull to the maximum in first practice on Friday

“I believe more in the build-up than in someone suddenly going for a banana lap, or however you want to call it,” Sainz said. “I believe more in the build-up and confidence building, and definitely taking 100 per cent risks in qualifying, in Q3.”

Envisaging the moment when he will finally go all out, Sainz painted a beautiful picture of what his mindset will be at that point.

“That’s the beauty around Monaco that suddenly for two laps in Q3, you forget that there are walls and you’re driving like there is literally a kerb and grass and gravel, rather than a wall, which is what makes the driver so excited in the car,” he said.

“You’re literally driving next to walls thinking they are not there. And I truly believe if the track wouldn’t have any walls, the lap time would be the same, which is quite crazy when you think about it.”

Saturday May 25
9.40am: F3 Sprint
11.15am: Monaco GP Practice Three (session starts at 11.30am)*
1.10pm: F2 Sprint*
2.15pm: Monaco GP Qualifying build-up*
3pm: Monaco GP Qualifying*
5pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook

Sunday May 26
6.55am: F3 Feature Race
8.35am: F2 Feature Race
12.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Monaco GP build-up*
2pm: The MONACO GRAND PRIX*
4pm: Chequered Flag: Monaco GP reaction
5pm: Ted’s Notebook
5.30pm: The Indy 500

*also live on Sky Sports Main Event

It’s time for the most-famous F1 race of them all – the Monaco Grand Prix. Watch every session from the famous street circuit live on Sky Sports F1, with Sunday’s race at 2pm. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership – No contract, cancel anytime

Sourse: skysports.com