Lando Norris denied Charles Leclerc pole position for his home grand prix with his final lap of the session.

The pair’s team mates will line up immediately behind them, while Max Verstappen took fifth on the grid.

It was a poor session for Mercedes, however, as neither of their cars reached Q3.

Q1

For the second week in a row, Q1 came to an end with the 15th-placed driver, who claimed the final place in Q2, crashing. Andrea Kimi Antonelli clipped the barrier on the inside at the Nouvelle Chicane and slithered to a stop, apologising profusely on his radio to race engineer Peter Bonnington.

Several drivers behind him might have felt they were owed apologies too. However Antonelli’s crash had little effect upon the five drivers trying to escape the drop zone.

Both Alpine drivers dropped out in the first round after being the only ones to start the session on the medium compound. They later switched to softs, but not in time to escape the bottom five.

Gabriel Bortoleto briefly grabbed a place in the top 15 with his final flying lap. However he slipped into the drop zone moments later.

The two drivers who had picked up penalties also went out in the first round. Lance Stroll is also under investigation again, this time for holding up Pierre Gasly at the chicane, and Oliver Bearman also went no further.

Race control also confirmed an investigation into potential impeding by Lewis Hamilton on Max Verstappen. The Red Bull driver had to go around the outside of the Ferrari at Massenet. Hamilton’s race engineer Riccardo Adami had told him Verstappen was “slowing down,” but the Red Bull driver was infuriated by the encounter with his rival. “Massive impeding, that,” he told Gianpiero Lambiase on his radio.

Leclerc headed the session, followed by the two McLaren drivers and Verstappen.

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Q1 result

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Q2

The session took another unfortunate turn for Mercedes soon after Q2 began. George Russell, who looked more competitive than he had all weekend in Q1, lost power after hitting a bump at the exit of Sainte Devote.

He tried to cruise back to the pits but came to a stop in the tunnel, triggering red flags, and ending his run of Q3 appearances.

Ferrari had opted to take the medium tyre compound when Q2 began and Leclerc was initially able to go quickest on it. However Norris and Verstappen, both still running the softs, beat his time, the McLaren driver three tenths of a second ahead.

The Williams drivers also opted for mediums and Albon put his car fourth. Hamilton and Sainz, however, fell behind a clutch of soft-tyred runners after their first laps, taking ninth and tenth respectively by the time Russell’s W16 ground to a halt.

The session resumed with nine minutes left on the clock and the Ferrari drivers back on soft rubber. In short order they headed the times again, Leclerc on a 1’10.581, Hamilton three-tenths off.

Sainz made a late switch to softs but failed to make the cut for Q3 by a tenth of a second. A thrilled Esteban Ocon was laughing on his radio with race engineer Laura Mueller as he rebounded from a poor Friday to claim the final place.

Yuki Tsunoda was on course to reach the top 10 as the final runs began. But his first sector was poor and both Racing Bulls drivers beat him to reach Q3.

Norris unleashed a strong lap to pip Leclerc to the top time by a hundredth of a second. But team mate Piastri had a scruffy end to the session as he did a final run to get his eye in for the pole position shoot-out. Verstappen also put in a fully committed final lap, which left him fifth.

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Q2 result

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Q3

Norris sustained his advantage after the first runs in Q3, Piastri slotting in behind him. The pair of them were quicker than Leclerc, with Verstappen fourth in the Red Bull.

McLaren sent their cars out early for their final runs, and fuelled to do two laps each. This proved a shrewd tactic.

Norris and Piastri improved their times on their first flying laps, edging further clear of their rivals. Neither Verstappen nor Hamilton could get on terms with them on their final runs, but Leclerc could, and took the top spot away with a lap of 1’10.063.

The McLaren drivers still had one final lap to come, however, and Norris produced something special with his last effort. He set a record-breaking pace, dipping below the 70-second barrier with a time of 1’09.954 to take his first pole position since the season-opening race in Australia, and arguably the most important one of the season.

Hadjar delivered an excellent lap to join Verstappen on the third row of the grid, pipping Alonso by a thousandth of a second. Albon wasn’t able to deliver on the strong pace he showed earlier in the race and qualified one place ahead of his team mate.

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Q3 result

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