Antonelli takes Monaco pole as Verstappen and Hamilton chase

Kimi Antonelli, the championship leader, will start Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix from pole position after dominating qualifying on Saturday. This marks Antonelli's fourth pole in six races this season, showcasing his strong performance for Mercedes.

Antonelli edged out four-time world champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull by a mere 43 thousandths of a second. Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari also qualified in a strong position. "I gave one of those laps that you can say is magical. It went well from start to finish, it's incredible. It was a tough battle against Max," Antonelli stated. He credited his team for finding the necessary improvements after a less dominant Friday practice session.

Verstappen expressed surprise at his front-row start, saying, "If you had told me yesterday that I would be on the front row, I wouldn't have believed it. It's extremely positive, I'm very happy to be at the front and we'll see what happens at the start tomorrow." Local driver Charles Leclerc of Ferrari could only manage fourth place, lamenting issues with his car's brakes. "I don't know what happened with the brakes, the car was very irregular," he said.

This pole position is the first for a Mercedes driver at Monaco since Lewis Hamilton in 2019 and the first for an Italian driver since Jarno Trulli in 2004. Antonelli, who has had some difficult starts this season, will need to defend his lead into the first corner to maintain his championship advantage.

“

Si me hubieran dicho ayer que estaría en la primera línea, no lo habría creído. Es extremadamente positivo, estoy muy feliz de estar delante y veremos mañana (domingo) qué pasa en la salida