Red Bull driver Verstappen surged to his third pole of 2023 by just 0.084s with a remarkable late effort to usurp Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, who had until the dying moments of the session looked set to claim his first pole since Hockenheim 2012.
At the circuit where pole position has more value than any other, due to the difficulty of overtaking at the Principality, Verstappen had trailed his fellow double world champion by two tenths heading into the short final sector. But Verstappen “gave it everything I had” and admitted he “clipped a few barriers” to secure his first pole position in Monaco and increase his chances of repeating his 2021 victory.
