Red Bull driver\u2019s huge crash halts Monaco practice as McLaren endures \u2018difficult day\u2019<\/a><\/p>\nOscar Piastri of Australia and McLaren arrives in the Paddock prior to final practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Monaco at Circuit de Monaco.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Antonelli\u2019s pole was the first by a Mercedes driver since Hamilton in 2019 and he became the first Italian to take pole in Monaco since Jarno Trulli in 2004.<\/p>\n
The session began in warm sunshine with a long queue weaving out of the pits to warm their tyres in preparation for a flying lap, albeit in heavy traffic.<\/p>\n
An early radio call from Hamilton to complain Leclerc was \u201cbacking into me\u201d reflected the tension in the cockpits before Hadjar vented to his frustrations.<\/p>\n
Leclerc topped the early runs ahead of Norris and Hamilton while Russell toiled for a clean lap before Gabriel Bortoleto clipped a barrier at the chicane and came to a halt, causing a six-minute red flag stoppage.<\/p>\n
This left most drivers chasing a lap in the final seconds of Q1 while the main contenders stayed in the pits.<\/p>\n
Leclerc led the way into Q2 ahead of Verstappen and Antonelli while a lap from Sainz, in the added time, saw him claim 10th and avoid an early exit.<\/p>\n
– Alonso outburst –<\/p>\n
Out instead went the two Cadillacs, both Haas drivers and both Aston Martins, with two-time champion Fernando Alonso, 21st, making clear his distaste for the new \u2018hybrid era\u2019 cars.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe worst generation of cars I have driven in Monaco,\u201d he said. \u201cHybrid cars should not be racing. Simple as that.\u201d After 21 previous appearances, including two wins and two poles, Alonso, at 44, is the most experienced Monaco driver on the grid.<\/p>\n
Verstappen led out for Q2, narrowly avoiding a pit-lane clash with Sainz before the precocious Antonelli set the pace in 1:12.778 ahead of Verstappen until Leclerc moved within 0.070 seconds of him.<\/p>\n
Fernando Alonso of Spain and Aston Martin F1 Team arrives in the Paddock prior to the F1 Grand Prix of Canada at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Hadjar crashes out in Monaco practice | 00:24<\/p>\n
It was tight and changeable at the top as Red Bull burst into the frame, Verstappen going fastest in 1:12.499 to beat Antonelli by 0.205 with Hadjar third 0.223 adrift ahead of the Ferraris and McLarens.<\/p>\n
This time, both Williams and both Audis were eliminated along with Alpine\u2019s Franco Colapinto Racing Bulls\u2019 rookie Arvid Lindblad.<\/p>\n
Liam Lawson of Racing Bulls and Alpine\u2019s Pierre Gasly made the top ten shootout. The final ten had another chance to compose a perfect pole lap. Leclerc bailed out of his first flying run, but hit the sweet spot on his second to clock 1:12.351 and snatch provisional pole.<\/p>\n
In a sensational sequence, the celebrating Monegasque crowd were silenced as Verstappen clocked 1:12.094 before, Antonelli blew that away as the tension erupted in Italian euphoria around the Monte Carlo harbour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"World championship leading teenager Kimi Antonelli continued his remarkable run of successes on Saturday by claiming pole position…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":719847,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[173126,2095,14212,64,63,689,2065,13275,317690,2057,845,104445,36630,348952,22496,3875,876,63075,64095,266602,329760,348954,10115,1737,823,825,927,2041,2067,677,348950,348951,348953,16280,22297,127081,24133,13777,85,348955,22294,2062,2086],"class_list":["post-719846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-alberto-ascari","tag-america","tag-arvid-lindblad","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-canada","tag-charles-leclerc","tag-consecutive-races","tag-europe","tag-fernando-alonso","tag-final-minute","tag-final-practice","tag-flying-run","tag-four-time-champion","tag-george-russell","tag-gilles-villeneuve","tag-heavy-traffic","tag-honest-reveal","tag-hybrid-cars","tag-hybrid-era","tag-italian-euphoria","tag-kimi-antonelli","tag-lando-norris","tag-lewis-hamilton","tag-max-verstappen","tag-monaco","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-oceania","tag-outpaced-teammate","tag-pit-lane-clash","tag-pole-lap","tag-pole-position","tag-practice-session","tag-provisional-pole","tag-qualifying-results","tag-qualifying-session","tag-sports","tag-thrilling-qualifying-session","tag-title-race","tag-western-europe","tag-world-championship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/719846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=719846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/719846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/719847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=719846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=719846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=719846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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