ANALYSIS: Sauber has gained the most compared to last year
Despite failing to get a car into the top ten in qualifying at the Monaco Grand Prix, Formula One's Swiss outfit Sauber have recorded the biggest gain compared to their results from last year. F1Technical's senior writer Balazs Szabo delivers his latest analysis.
It’s taken 18 years but McLaren is back on pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix. The last time was back in 2007, courtesy of Fernando Alonso, and Lando Norris has now put McLaren on pole at Monte Carlo again after 18 years.
The Englishman was already quickest in Q2 and then did it again in Q3, snatching pole at the very last moment from the local hero Charles Leclerc. The McLaren man's time was a 1m09.954s, while the Ferrari driver posted a 1m10.063s. Norris’ time is a new outright lap record for this track, beating the 1m10.166s set by Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes in 2019.
Third and fourth places went to their respective team-mates. Oscar Piastri third (1m10.129s) and Lewis Hamilton fourth (1m10.382s) which looked like a modified remake of last year here, when Leclerc was on pole with Carlos Sainz third and the McLarens second and fourth.
However the seven time world champion was later given a three place grid penalty, for impeding Max Verstappen which drops him to seventh. That promotes the Red Bull driver to the second row with his time of 1m10.669s.
When comparing teams' performances with their results from last year, Sauber stand out with the biggest gain. The Hinwil-based outfit has recorded a gain of almost a full second.
Aston Martin went six tenths quicker than what they achieved last year. Haas has achieved a significant gain as well courtesy of a brilliant performance from Esteban Ocon, who made the cut into Q3.
Among the top teams, McLaren recorded the biggest improvement with almost half a second while Ferrari also gained two tenths. By contrast, Red Bull lost over a tenth compared to last year while Mercedes lost a full second. In truth, the Brackley-based outfit's data is not relevant as they were unable to display their real speed after both George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli suffered an early elimination due to different reasons.
