F1: Alonso is close to a miracle in the Monaco classification and will have a chance of victory

The Spaniard will start second on the Monte Carlo grid after threatening Verstappen until the last second

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The party at Aston Martin this Saturday only lasted a few seconds. When Fernando Alonso he passed the finish line, all his mechanics jumped with joy, a miracle!, the pole position was practically a fact. But the ruckus ended suddenly. When max verstappen I passed the finish line, the Spanish garage was submerged in silence, hands on head, how could it be?

Alonso was close, very close, closer than ever this year to starting a race from the first position. In Monaco, the best place to do it, he was eight hundredths of a second from overtaking Verstappen and starting second, also with a chance of victory. “I’ve touched the wall twice!” Shouted the Dutchman at the end of the qualifying session. I got nervous. Alonso had pushed him into the abyss. In fact, for a few moments getting away with it seemed impossible. Before his last attempt, to risk everything in each corner, Verstappen was behind the Spaniard and only at the horn was he able to beat him.

“It’s been good. Pole position means a lot here in Monaco, but starting from the front row of the grid is also very important for us. Trying to win,” Alonso said at the end of the session, before putting pressure on Verstappen again, this one with a microphone in hand: “On this straight there is very little travel and it is difficult to gain a position, but Max is somewhat irregular at the starts and maybe tomorrow he will do poorly”.

There is no place as traditional in Formula 1 as Monaco and if tradition is followed, Alonso can get his first victory in a decade this Sunday. Due to the extreme narrowness and the extreme slowness of the circuit, overtaking here is a chimera and his position in the first row is a real advantage. A test? Of the last 18 winners, 15 started from the front row.

The KO of Prez and Stroll

From the first moment the classification was illuminated for Alonso to dance under the spotlight. Something was sensed. At the start of Q1, even before the nerves seized, ‘Czech’ Prez he crashed into the wall in front of the church of Santa Devota and Alonso’s chances of accessing the first row multiplied. The Mexican, after all, had held two pole positions this season -Arabia and Miami- and only once, in Australia, when he made a mistake, did he start behind the Spaniard. This Sunday I will start twentieth, one less rival.

Another will be Alonso’s own companion, Lance Stroll, which also failed this Saturday. After a brilliant Q1, in Q2 he was eliminated due to a mistake. Without the need for an accident, a bad lap left him at risk and, in that situation, unlike Verstappen, he did not know how to solve. Part fourteen.

The rest of the candidates were placed on the grid with a surprise in between. The two Alpine riders tested their speed in qualifying and one of them, Esteban Oconwas placed fourth so, after Verstappen and Alonso, charles leclerc start third and Carlos Sainz, fifth. further back lewis hamilton start sixth and George Russelleighth.