"I don't think that pole was on today" - Red Bull admits it couldn't have done Charles Leclerc's times in 2022 F1 Monaco GP qualifying

After a chaotic end to the 2022 Monaco Grand Prix qualifying session, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner admitted that the team had no expectations of securing pole today, given the significant pace advantage Ferrari holds on the track.

In a post-qualifying media interaction, the Briton congratulated hometown hero Charles Leclerc on securing pole, and admitted that while he was not expecting pole, having at least one Red Bull on the front-row did not seem too far-fetched. He said:

“I don’t think that pole was on today, Charles [Leclerc] was mighty. Congrats to him because we couldn’t have done that time but it is a shame because I think both of the drivers could have improved a little. Max [Verstappen] certainly was significantly up but it is one of those things. Checo [Sergio Perez] has been on it all weekend and that is still P3 and P4 so it is just one of those things and there could be some weather tomorrow. It is disappointing to not get one on the front row, but we will fight from there.”

Sergio Perez, who had been fighting right at the top all weekend, unfortunately crashed into the wall towards the end of Q3. While he did manage to secure third place for tomorrow's race, the crash restricted his teammate Max Verstappen from improving his time, forcing him to settle for fourth.

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Red Bull claims it "expected" Ferrari to be strong at the Monaco Grand Prix

Despite Sergio Perez topping the time sheets in FP3, Christian Horner claimed that he was well aware that Ferrari held the advantage in Monaco.

When asked about Ferrari’s pace and its comparison to Red Bull during FP3 earlier today, Horner told Sky Sports F1:

“Charles is obviously looking pretty quick. I think when you look at our combined sectors we can get closer. But again, playing around a bit with engine modes and so on, so we haven’t got a completely clear picture, but it looks like they have a tenth or so in hand at the moment.”

He went on to say:

“They were very strong. We expected them to be strong here. They showed that particularly in FP2 yesterday. The lap time seems to come very easy for them. I think both of our drivers felt we could make improvements to set-up, so obviously a lot of data looked at last night and hopefully we get some reasonable changes today. But it was certainly advantage Ferrari [during practice].”

With a Ferrari front row lockout, Red Bull has a tough race ahead of it tomorrow to maintain its lead in the championship standings.