Leclerc keeps Monaco F1 pole after gearbox gets all clear
The Monegasque secured a sensational shock home pole before crashing on his final lap of qualifying on Saturday, leaving him and Ferrari facing an anxious wait to find out if he would be hit with a grid drop due to the damage sustained to his car.
Qualifying ended under a red flag after Leclerc crashed heavily at the exit of the Swimming Pool section, an impact which took off the front right of his SF21 car, as well as damaging the rear.
Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto had stressed after qualifying that the Maranello squad would not take a reliability gamble on Leclerc’s gearbox despite the team taking its first pole position since the 2019 Mexican Grand Prix.
During an initial inspection on Saturday evening, Ferrari found that Leclerc’s gearbox had sustained “no serious damage” in his crash, but said it would make a final decision on changing it on Sunday morning.
Just hours before the race, Ferrari confirmed that the gearbox did not need replacing having found no defects following further checks, meaning Leclerc will avoid triggering an automatic five-place grid penalty and will keep the eighth pole of his F1 career.
UPDATE
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) May 23, 2021
Following further in depth checks this morning, no apparent defects were found on @Charles_Leclerc’s gearbox, therefore the Monegasque driver will start today’s race from pole position, as per the qualifying result.#essereFerrari #MonacoGP pic.twitter.com/B4pk6MV6kb
He will be joined on the front row of the grid by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, with the race due to start at 3pm local time (2pm BST).
