The Monaco harbor master is usually the one with the most frayed nerves during Grand Prix weekend. Until the fairy tale arrival of Charles LeClerc was shattered into an Italian tragedy, the scarlet blood-red Ferrari failed to qualify for the second session of competition. Was it incompetence? Was it…. No, it was incompetence. Perhaps harsh. Call it a passionate miscalculation. Regardless, LeClerc was OUT in Q1! It was not meant to be…. And fantasy Formula 1 leagues tumble on the disappointment which is motor racing!
The Rich Energy Haas F1 Team, Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen, were able to advance to Q2. Q3 is when tragedy struck a Haas car. This time the villain is Pierre Gasley in the Toro Rosso. He was driving slowly on the racing line and backed up Grosjean’s hot lap. Kevin Magnussen qualified 6th with what Martin Brumble called a “fully committed lap”. KMags was brilliant! Behind the scenes there is a bitter argument between two Frenchmen going on, Grosjean and Gasley… at the time of this writing we are aghast with Gasley, as are the stewards.
But as cars rolled onto the track for the third round of qualifying, Haas fans had one eye raised with measured optimism. Bottas immediately went to the top with a 1:10.252. Magnussen held P4 with a .999 gap to Bottas. But Magnussen quickly droped to 5th, behind Gasley, Vettel, Verstappen and Bottas. He dropped to 6th as Hamilton beat Verstappen for P2. But going into the final run for pole, KMags maintained that .999 second gap to the leader. This is by far the best qualifying run for any Haas car, ever. Imagine if Grosjean was able to make the final qualifying session? I suspect that Ricciardo’s Redbull would be easy pickings on this day for Grosjean.
With 2 minutes remaining in qualifying, the cars took to the track for their final run. Ricciardo was the first to strike and displace the Haas of Kevin Magnussen for 6th. Magnussen responds, to gap with the leader by .890, but not enough to take Ricciardo’s P6. With 12 seconds remaining, Lewis Hamilton jumps to the pole with a 1:10.166 , and the gap to Magnussen parts to 1.066. But as Magnussen’s Ferrari powered Rich Energy Haas car crossed the line, he closed the gap to .943 seconds from Hamilton’s 1:11.109. In doing so, Magnussen finished 6th, ahead of Ricciardo’s Renault by .089 sec. Very sweet!
Following the qualifying sessions, Red Bull driver Pierre Gasley was summoned to the race control. His block of Grosjean’s qualifying run was not well-received by the race stewards. Gasley was given a three grid spot penalty and one point against his FIA super license. So Gasley’s penalty moved Kevin Magnussen up to the 5th starting position. That translates to row three, and next to Vettel. Anything can happen between the start of the race, and the end of turn 1. Without any Renault powered cars ahead, the likely hood of a mechanical failure at the front is reduced. Regardless, the podium is within sight of a Haas car… we’re getting somewhere!