Saturday’s race winner Oliver Rowland became de facto polesitter, after deleted laps for Vergne and Günther brought the Monaco E-Prix qualifying duels to a premature end.
Mitch Evans set the pace in Free Practice 3, with Jake Dennis – who took third place in Saturday’s race – just 0.036s behind him. Nyck de Vries kept up the promising pace, rounding out the top three 0.01s behind Dennis.
Rain clouds rolled in with just twenty minutes to go until the green flags waved. At a circuit where success is dictated by fine margins, the rain promised a demanding session for all 22 drivers.
Group A
By the time qualifying got under way the rain had stopped — but the track was still slick. Championship leader Oliver Rowland was one of the first out on track, carving out a racing line.
The drivers wrestled for control, going full lock as they fought to make each corner safely. There were sections with standing water, and early lap times were a second down on yesterday’s quickest time. Rowland had a moment at Mirabeau but managed to get the car back under control — but with four minutes remaining, was yet to set a competitive lap time.
Mahindra’s Nyck de Vries had set the fastest time so far with a 1:59.926, but that was soon bested by Rowland, who put a 1:57.628 on the board. Lap times began to decrease as the track evolved, Rowland’s time dropping down to a 1:56.8.
Ticktum put in a time that was 0.06s quicker, but that was beaten by Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa, who crossed the finish line at the end of the session with a 1:56.1. Ticktum tore his way around the circuit, but after running into traffic, the best he could do was fourth fastest.
Nyck de Vries was quickest overall with an impressive 1:55.385, over 0.7s faster than Da Costa.
Into the duels:
- Nyck de Vries
- Antonio Felix da Costa
- Oliver Rowland
- Dan Ticktum
Group B
With the rain over, we could expect to see some quicker lap times than Group A, as the drivers traced the dryer patches of the racing line. But standing water continued to pose a challenge, the fiddly corners of the Nouvelle Chicane a challenge for he drivers to navigate in the slippery, unforgiving conditions.
Nick Cassidy and Pascal Wehrlein were the men to beat in the opening half of qualifying, but were quickly bypassed by Jake Dennis and Jean-Eric Vergne. Meanwhile, Dennis’ teammate Muller went off at Saint Devote, spinning himself round in the run-off to get back on track.
With three minutes to go, Vergne was the quickest on track, 0.122s ahead of Maximilian Günther. Maserati’s Stoffel Vandoorne came out of nowhere to go quickest with a 1:54.763.
A lock up for Sam Bird saw the driver go straight off at Saint Devote. His front left wheel clipped the metal barrier on entry to the corner, sending him straight into the TechPro barriers, bringing out the red flags.
Bird was okay and out of the car, but his session was now at the end, the McLaren driver in the bottom three of the Group. The top four at the time of the red flag was Vandoorne, Vergne, Günther, and Cassidy.
It took a while for the session to get back underway, as marshalls worked to repair the damaged barriers. With under three minutes left on the clock, it would be a rapid-fire couple of laps from the drivers — just enough time for one out lap and one quick lap.
It was a twitchy lap from Cassidy as he worked to keep control of the car around the greasy Monaco circuit. A stunning second sector from Buemi saw the Envision driver clock the quickest time, but the DS Penske was the star of the show, with both drivers making it into the top four.
Sam Bird was called up by the stewards at the end of the session, under investigation for causing the red flag.
Into the duels:
- Sebastien Buemi
- Jean-Eric Vergne
- Stoffel Vandoorne
- Maximilian Günther
Quarter Finals
Rowland v Da Costa
Championship leader Rowland took to circuit first, opening up a gap of 0.171s over Da Costa. Rowland continued to extend that marginal leader, widening the gap between himself and the Porsche driver, putting over half a second on Da Costa.
While Da Costa began to claw some time back, it wasn’t enough — Rowland maintained a lead over Da Costa, and finished the lap 1.4s ahead of the Porsche.
Ticktum v De Vries
Ticktum headed out first, hoping to replicate his top-three finish from Saturday’s qualifying. But De Vries immediately looked to be the more confident of the pair, Ticktum cautiously winding his way up to the tunnel.
The Brit cut the chicane, and was clearly frustrated with his go out on track, describing the session as “a joke”. With Ticktum’s lap time deleted, De Vries was comfortably through to the semi-finals.
Vandoorne v Vergne
The battle of the ex-teammates began with Vandoorne taking to the circuit first. He eked out a small advantage over Vergne, but it was ultimately short-lived, as Vergne responded with a lead of over 0.6s.
Despite a brief meeting with the barriers, Vergne continued to grow his advantage until he was almost a second ahead of his old teammate, securing him a place in the semi-finals.
Günther v Buemi
The final quarter final saw the second DS Penske take to the track, searching for a spot in the semis.
Günther went wide around Massenet, but held onto an early advantage over Buemi, who was clearly struggling for stability around the track. The Envision driver wobbled his way around the hairpin, handing a further advantage to Günther. Buemi then had his lap deleted, making it two for two for DS Penske.
Semi Finals
De Vries v Rowland
It had drizzled through throughout the duels, meaning track conditions were still a challenge for the drivers to manage. De Vries pushed to get some heat into his tyres on his out lap, familiarising himself on the out lap.
Right off the bat, there was an error for De Vries, the Dutchman going off at Saint Devote — but it wasn’t the lap-ruining mistake he’d first feared, because Rowland followed in his lead, making the exact same mistake.
Rowland was the quicker of the two to rejoin the circuit, clawing back some time from his error. De Vries lost momentum, struggling to find an advantage. In the end, the duel went Rowland’s way, seeing him through to the final.
Vergne v Günther
From teammates to rivals, the two DS Penskes took to the track, hoping to avoid the mistakes of the drivers before them. While they held onto the race line around Saint Devote, both Penskes lost it at the chicane, running off. With both drivers exceeding track limits, the result was two deleted laps for DS Penske in a tough blow to the team.
No final!
Two deleted laps meant qualifying was brought to an abrupt and premature end, with Oliver Rowland the de facto polesitter. There was bemusement throughout the paddock, as teams and media alike muddled their way through who would start behind Rowland. Eventually it was confirmed De Vries would be P2, Günther in P3 and Vergne in P4.
