Monaco F2: Leclerc takes pole but faces investigation

Leclerc, a Ferrari Formula 1 junior driver, set the fastest time in the first group of 10 drivers – F2 qualifying in Monaco is split into two sessions of 16-minutes each – to take to the streets of Monaco.

The Prema Racing driver brushed the barriers exiting the tunnel on his way to a best lap of 1m19.309s, which meant he set the quickest time in qualifying for the third time out of three events in 2017.

But he could yet lose pole as it was announced during the first segment that the Monegasque will be investigated for stalling in the pitlane and failing to wait for a minute before getting going again.

The fastest driver from group two – ART Grand Prix’s Alexander Albon – is provisionally set start second, and the next fastest drivers from each segment are to line up behind Leclerc and Albon in the order they finished their respective sessions.

That means DAMS driver Oliver Rowland is set to start third, ahead of Russian Time racer and 2016 GP2 feature race winner Artem Markelov, and Nobuharu Matsushita, who crashed at the very end of the first session when he clattered the kerbs going through the second part of the Swimming Pool and hit the barriers on the outside of the track.

Albon was able to improve his best time to 1m19.321s late on in the second half of qualifying, but wound up just 0.012s slower than Leclerc.

Norman Nato will start sixth after finishing third in the second group, and will line up ahead of MP Motorsport driver Jordan King.

McLaren F1 junior Nyck de Vries qualified eighth, but will lose three places for the feature race after picking up a penalty for causing a collision with Prema’s Antonio Fuoco in the sprint race last time out at Barcelona.

Luca Ghiotto was fifth in the first session and qualifies ninth, with DAMS driver Nicholas Latifi rounding out the top 10.

UPDATE: De Vries was handed a further three-place penalty for impeding Fuoco in the second qualifying group, dropping the Dutchman down to 14th on the grid for Friday's opening race.

The stewards took no action against Leclerc, who keeps his third successive pole, although Prema was fined €500 for the incident.

Group A

Pos.	#	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Gap
1	1	Charles Leclerc	Prema Powerteam	10	1'19.309
2	9	Oliver Rowland	DAMS	9	1'19.541	0.232
3	7	Nobuharu Matsushita	ART Grand Prix	10	1'19.922	0.613
4	15	Jordan King	MP Motorsport	10	1'20.058	0.749
5	5	Luca Ghiotto	RUSSIAN TIME	9	1'20.089	0.780
6	21	Sean Gelael	Arden International	11	1'20.272	0.963
7	19	Johnny Cecotto	Rapax	11	1'20.413	1.104
8	17	Sergio Canamasas	Trident	11	1'20.415	1.106
9	3	Louis Deletraz	Racing Engineering	12	1'21.592	2.283
10	11	Ralph Boschung	Campos Racing	10	1'21.664	2.355

Group B

Pos.	#	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Gap
1	8	Alexander Albon	ART Grand Prix	11	1'19.321
2	9	Artem Markelov	RUSSIAN TIME	9	1'19.647	0.326
3	20	Norman Nato	Arden International	8	1'19.803	0.482
4	18	Nyck de Vries	Rapax	9	1'19.814	0.493
5	10	Nicholas Latifi	DAMS	9	1'20.042	0.721
6	21	Gustav Malja	Racing Engineering	11	1'20.282	0.961
7	19	Antonio Fuoco	Prema Racing	11	1'20.593	1.272
8	17	Robert Visoiu	Campos Racing	11	1'20.867	1.546
9	16	Nabil Jeffri	Trident	11	1'21.239	1.918
10	14	Sergio Sette Camara	MP Motorsport	11	1'21.271	1.950