Norris snatches Monaco pole from Leclerc

McLaren’s Lando Norris snatched pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix from local hero Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari with the final lap of qualifying.

Norris beat Leclerc by 0.109 seconds as the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri took third place ahead of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton.

The seven-time champion was later demoted to seventh for impeding Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

That promoted the Dutchman, so far the McLaren drivers’ only title rival, to fourth.

Racing Bulls’ French rookie Isack Hadjar took sixth place ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.

McLaren chose a different approach to the final part of qualifying than their rivals, choosing to go out early and do two flying laps on a set of soft tyres.

Norris was faster than Piastri on both runs, by less than 0.1secs on the first and just more than that on the second.

Leclerc, third after the first runs in the final session after topping all practice sessions, leapt to the top of the leaderboard with his final lap, to cheers from the crowd in his home city.

But behind him the McLaren drivers were embarking on their final laps.

Piastri was initially up on Leclerc’s time, but his lap slightly fell away from him, and the Australian fell short of the Ferrari by 0.066secs.

But Norris managed his lap to perfection to set a new track record at Monaco and grab pole.