Monaco F2: Ferrari junior Leclerc keeps pole, Prema fined
Ferrari Formula 1 junior driver Charles Leclerc has kept his pole position for the Formula 2 feature race in Monaco, although his Prema team has been fined
It was announced during the first half of the 32-minute Monaco qualifying session - split into two 16-minute segments featuring 10 drivers each to try to reduce traffic chaos - that Leclerc was being investigated for failing to wait one minute after stalling his car in the pitlane.
But the Monegasque driver's Prema Racing team was only handed a €500 fine as a result of the incident.
Leclerc, "received pitlane assistance and joined the track before the pitlane had been open for one minute", read a stewards' statement.
That decision means Leclerc keeps his third pole from three events in 2017, and will start his first race at his home event from first place.
"I did a big flat spot in the first corner, but after that it felt quite OK," Leclerc said of his pole lap.
"The first sector wasn't great, but overall it was quite good.
"I had a moment in the tunnel where I touched the wall, but luckily we didn't bend or break anything."
The Monaco F2 feature race grid does have a slight amendment as Rapax driver Nyck de Vries was adjudged to have impeded Leclerc's Prema team-mate Antonio Fuoco at the first part of the final Antony Noghes corner while the Italian racer was on a flying lap.
That decision means De Vries will drop three further places on the grid in addition to the three he had been due to lose for hitting Fuoco in the sprint race at Barcelona.
De Vries, who had qualified eighth, will therefore start the feature race in 14th place, one spot behind Fuoco.
RACE ONE STARTING GRID:
Pos | Driver | Team | Gap |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Charles Leclerc | Prema Racing | 1m19.309s |
2 | Alexander Albon | ART Grand Prix | 0.012s |
3 | Oliver Rowland | DAMS | 0.232s |
4 | Artem Markelov | RUSSIAN TIME | 0.338s |
5 | Nobuharu Matsushita | ART Grand Prix | 0.613s |
6 | Norman Nato | Pertamina Arden | 0.494s |
7 | Jordan King | MP Motorsport | 0.749s |
8 | Luca Ghiotto | RUSSIAN TIME | 0.780s |
9 | Nicholas Latifi | DAMS | 0.733s |
10 | Sean Gelael | Pertamina Arden | 0.963s |
11 | Gustav Malja | Racing Engineering | 0.973s |
12 | Johnny Cecotto Jr. | Rapax | 1.104s |
13 | Antonio Fuoco | Prema Racing | 1.284s |
14 | Nyck de Vries | Rapax | 0.505s |
15 | Sergio Canamasas | Trident | 1.106s |
16 | Robert Visoiu | Campos Racing | 1.558s |
17 | Louis Deletraz | Racing Engineering | 2.283s |
18 | Nabil Jeffri | Trident | 1.930s |
19 | Ralph Boschung | Campos Racing | 2.355s |
20 | Sergio Sette Camara | MP Motorsport | 1.962s |
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