Roger Benoit, Monte Carlo
Actually, the Monaco qualification was over. It still cracks in the last few seconds. The curse of the horror hour.
The final drama: Pérez (3rd) threw the Red Bull-Honda into the guard rails in front of the tunnel – like Senna did the McLaren in the 1985 race with a 30-second lead.
No sooner had the Mexican struck than Sainz (2nd) slid through the right-hand bend in the Ferrari and turned into the Red Bull. “Suddenly the yellow light came on …”
Warning lights surprised Alonso
When Verstappen (4th) raced around the corner, it was red for a long time and the Dutchman was still able to brake. There was also a crash two bends above, in the Mirabeau – the strong Alonso (7th) was surprised there by the warning lights alone.
A lot of scrap following a rather harmless qualification with a sovereign winner: Leclerc, the real Monegasse. His 14th pole position. “Unfortunately, I had to slow down my super lap because there were these accidents behind me.”
Alfa-Sauber nightmare
For Alfa-Sauber, the previous two days in the principality became a nightmare. Nothing went right for the two drivers. Bottas was stopped following two laps on Friday with damage to the MGU-K electric motor. In qualifying, the World Cup eighth just smuggled his way into the second part and finished 12th.
Teammate Zhou is the last to start here. He was warned and the Hinwil team was fined 10,000 euros because the pit crew had given the Chinese insufficient information in the “fight” with Verstappen.
The great season of the Finn Bottas with 38 world championship points on Sunday had many dark, even scary points in the training beforehand.
- In Bahrain, misfires stopped him following just two laps on Friday! He’s sixth!
- In Jeddah, the problem first came up in the race: defective radiator, engine overheated – Bottas loses a possible 6th place and collects the only zero.
- In Melbourne, Bottas comes through safely. But in the race its engine performance is too weak. He’s eighth!
- In Imola on Friday in Q3 an exhaust fire destroyed the underbody and the wiring harness. Sauber has to change the chassis and loses the entire second practice session on Saturday. He’s fifth!
- In Miami, following 13 laps, an accident ends the first free practice session. The gearbox breaks, and it pushes the exhaust into the turbocharger. Bottas watches the entire second training session. He’s seventh!
- In Barcelona, a major engine failure stopped him following just three laps on Friday. He’s sixth!
