Verstappen takes first Monaco pole as Perez crashes

MONACO: Red Bull's Max Verstappen risked all to secure his first Monaco Grand Prix pole position with a breathtaking final qualifying lap on the limit after Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso had gone fastest.

"Oh my god, I hit the wall two times," gasped Verstappen over the radio after crossing the line in the dying seconds with a best time of 1 minute 11.365 seconds to beat Alonso by a mere 0.084 seconds.

While Verstappen celebrated a lap for the ages, his teammate and closest title rival Sergio Perez crashed and will start last.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who had been chasing his third home pole in a row, was third fastest but dropped to sixth after stewards found that he impeded McLaren's Lando Norris.

Alonso, 41, made it a front row of double Formula 1 world champions and declared "job done" at a street circuit where overtaking is extremely difficult but the second placed starter has often prevailed.

The oldest driver on the grid, whose last win was a decade ago and who had not been on pole since he was at Ferrari in 2012, had taken the provisional pole with his own blistering last lap.

His first in the top 10 shootout was already impressive, the Spaniard telling his team he "drove like an animal" to achieve it, and the second was at times "over the limit".

But Verstappen delivered when it mattered with a barnstorming final sector in the afternoon sunshine, millimetre perfect and thrilling the capacity crowd with a final sector surge after lagging Alonso through the first two.

"We needed to pull that out the bag, but very lovely," he said as team boss Christian Horner hailed a "mighty" effort.

"I think that is one of the best laps he’s ever driven in qualifying," said Horner of his champion's 23rd career pole.

Alonso said that