Lando Norris On Pole In Monaco, Lewis Hamilton Hit With Penalty

Of all the races on the Formula 1 calendar, there's no race at which qualifying is more important than at Monaco, where overtaking is incredibly hard to accomplish thanks to the circuit's twisty, low-speed nature.

So, starting as close to the front of the field as humanly possible is key. It may not guarantee a win, but it's going to make it much, much easier than starting farther down the grid.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc came into the weekend saying that he didn't like the outlook for the Prancing Horses because of the way their car struggles in slow-speed corners.

SIGN UP for The Daily OutKick. New Look, Same Attitude.

Monaco is pretty much nothing but slow-speed corners.

However, Leclerc — who hails from Monaco and won last year's race — went into qualifying having topped all three practice sessions.

After a pair of Mercedes caused red flags in Q1 and Q2 (tough day for the Silver Arrows), Q3 presented what appeared to be a five-car battle for pole between the Ferraris, the McLarens, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

It looked like Leclerc would earn himself pole late with a strong lap late in the session, but McLaren's Lando Norris laid down a blistering lap that broke the track record to claim pole for himself.

Leclerc qualified P2, while McLaren's Oscar Piastri will start behind Norris in P3 and Leclerc's Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton qualified in P4.

However, earlier in the session, Hamilton was involved in an impeding incident with Verstappen that landed the seven-time champ a three-place grid penalty, meaning he will start the Grand Prix in P7.

Not a back-breaker for Lewis — especially with the new two-pit stop rule — even getting on the podium might be tough.

But, let's see how it pans out when the Monaco Grand Prix kicks things off on Sunday, the best day of the year for motorsports!