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Twitter Blows Up as Charles Leclerc Secures Monaco GP Pole by Shunting His Ferrari Into the Barriers
The most cheered F1 driver of the weekend, Charles Leclerc, takes pole for the first time this season. However, he might not be able to celebrate this incredible accomplishment with a wide smile, as the Monegasque has wrecked his Ferrari around turn 15.
The Ferrari driver posted a brilliant lap time during his first Q3 run and was over 0.2 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen. What’s more, neither his teammate, Carlos Sainz, nor the Mercedes duo had the pace to fight against the flying Monegasque.
Hence, it looked like he could secure the pole position with minimum effort. However, he might have just complicated his hopes of winning his home race by shunting his car into the barriers.
What’s more, considering the intensity of the impact, the likelihood of Ferrari opting for a gearbox change is quite significant. And this will leave Leclerc with a burden of grid penalty, while Verstappen steals the front-seat start to Sunday’s race.
How did the Charles Leclerc crash unfold?
As expected, Leclerc had just warmed his tires up to chase after his second flying lap of Q3. He had a decent couple of sectors. However, as he braked for the tricky turn 15, he ended up clipping his front-right tire on the edge of the barrier, breaking the suspension.
Ultimately, with broken steering, Leclerc was just a passenger to what followed, as he watched his car slam into the barriers at the end of turn 16.
This collision took the fans down the memory lane to the 2018 Monaco GP, where Verstappen had a similar shunt at the exact spot in FP3.
Nevertheless, Leclerc has still secured the pole position, as he embraced the wild round of applause from his ardent Monegasque fans.
How the fans reacted
The moment Leclerc put his car into the barriers, Twitter blew up with abundant reactions from the entire F1 fandom. Take a look at some of the reactions.
Not your everyday pole position moment
#MonacoGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/yyYPjn7Nwn — Formula 1 (@F1) May 22, 2021
IS LECLERC THE NEW SCHUMACHER??? pic.twitter.com/gDqSiEGsea
— Sir Jahmilton
(@Jahmilton44) May 22, 2021
#MonacoGP
Charles Leclerc crashing to take pole pic.twitter.com/qOT4faoFq7— mike hawk (@thrashcann) May 22, 2021
So, uh, that was interesting wasn’t it? Leclerc gets wall and pole – and he’ll hope there’s no serious damage to that Ferrari. #F1
— Autosport Live (@autosportlive) May 22, 2021
Red auto back on top
#Ferrari #leclerc pic.twitter.com/FfNkXvFX4L — Akshay Kumar (@Akshay_kumar_7) May 22, 2021
LECLERC IN THE WALL!!
So… he’s on pole #WTF1 #MonacoGP
— WTF1 (@wtf1official) May 22, 2021
Leclerc in the wall but gets pole omg the controversy!!!!!!!!!!!!
— Matt Gallagher (@MattyWTF1) May 22, 2021
Leclerc gets back to the garage to say thanks (and sorry, I guess!) to his Ferrari crew, plus Binotto and Elkann. Now off to parc ferme #F1 #MonacoGP
— Luke Smith (@LukeSmithF1) May 22, 2021
Leclerc getting on pole and then crashing his car to make sure the session gets ended pic.twitter.com/OUj80N8HCl
— val (@imoIacat) May 22, 2021
The post Twitter Blows Up as Charles Leclerc Secures Monaco GP Pole by Shunting His Ferrari Into the Barriers appeared first on EssentiallySports.
