Frederik Vesti was nearly reduced to tears in Monaco after taking his second pole position in the FIA Formula 2 Championship.

Vesti was fast throughout the Qualifying session, and took pole by just half a tenth of a second from Théo Pourchaire.

Reflecting on his emotions after the session, the Danish driver said: “I was almost crying. I just tried to enjoy the moment with the team, it means so much to me. To get this result was everything.”

Qualifying in Monaco was split into two separate groups running one after the other, to reduce the risk of cars having their fast laps ruined by traffic. As a result, each driver had just 15 minutes to nail the perfect lap, adding to the intensity of the notoriously difficult Monte Carlo circuit.

Monaco is often referred to as ‘the jewel in the crown’ of motorsport, and one that carries added significance for most drivers, and Vesti was clearly no exception.

He said: “It requires so much commitment, it’s such a difficult track, and there’s a lot of history and a lot of emotion coming here.

“We all want to win, this is the number one track where we want to win and get pole position, so it’s a very important weekend, and it’s the one we all dream of.”

Crashes and red flags interrupted both Qualifying groups, with both Arthur Leclerc and Jehan Daruvala finding the barriers in Group A, before Clément Novalak crashed out in Group B.

Victor Martins went fastest in Group A despite only getting two clean push laps between the red flags, setting the benchmark for Group B, which saw a tough battle for pole position between Vesti and Pourchaire.

The PREMA driver was first to better Martins’s time, going three tenths faster than Pourchaire who had set the early pace. The ART Grand Prix driver then closed the gap, but couldn’t go quicker than Vesti.

The Mercedes junior driver said: “The lap was good, I was trying to push as hard as I could but still managing the pressure and not making mistakes because at Monaco you cannot go all out every single corner; you need to put the lap together and have a clean Qualifying to be fast.”

That pole position means Vesti will start at the front of Sunday’s Feature Race, and will hope to keep that lead on the narrow streets of Monaco. For Saturday’s reverse grid Sprint Race, he will line up in tenth place, and will hope to keep out of trouble.

Image: Formula Motorsport Limited