Charles Leclerc on pole as Perez, Sainz crash out

Charles Leclerc won Monaco Grand Prix qualifying for the second consecutive year – this time helped by crashes from his rivals rather than one of his own.

Twelve months ago, the Ferrari driver claimed a surprise pole position and then hit the barrier at the Swimming Pool section to terminate the session. The damage to the car meant he could not start the race.

This time, it was his two closest rivals throughout the season’s most important qualifying Saturday, Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz, who crashed out at the end of qualifying to ensure the home racer will start at the front.

Now he has a perfect chance to end his dismal record on the streets of Monte Carlo where he grew up – six previous F1 and F2 entries and zero finishes so far.

The build-up to qualifying was relatively smooth for the teams after an uneventful FP3, the exception being at Aston Martin where they were still beavering away just a few minutes before the start after Lance Stroll‘s brush with the wall.

But the Canadian driver made it out no later than some of his rivals and on a track that was 10 degrees cooler than in the earlier practice session, with clouds rolling in, a struggling George Russell complained of a lack of grip on his initial flying lap.

The circuit was ramping up, however, with some surprise names near the top of the standings early on – and also further down, with Leclerc audibly concerned as he found himself 1.6sec off the pace entering the final 10 minutes of Q1. Alarm bells were quickly silenced on his next run though, as the local hero soared to P1.

Hamilton also succeeded in pulling out a flyer to ease any worries and as most drivers were in the process of improving their times and chances of reaching Q2, out came the red flags with just under two-and-a-half minutes remaining. Yuki Tsunoda had sustained a puncture at the Nouvelle chicane, but there was nothing too untoward and the stoppage appeared unnecessary.

Yuki watches on in the garage after causing a…