2025 Monaco Grand Prix Qualifying Review

Linus O'Howell
May 24
2 min read

With overtaking being known as almost impossible, everything was on the line for the biggest Qualifying of the season around the streets of Monte-Carlo!

Q1

In Qualifying 1, Gabriel Bortoleto, Oliver Bearman, Pierre Gasly, Lance Stroll, and Franco Colapinto were the five slowest drivers! Gabriel Bortoleto was unlucky to just miss out on a spot in Q2 whilst Oliver Bearman will start last tomorrow after a 10-place Grid penalty from earlier in the weekend! Pierre Gasly could only manage P18, ahead of Lance Stroll who got shafted by the Red Flag, whilst Franco Colapinto was slowest in what was a horrendous day for Alpine! Charles Leclerc topped Q1 for Ferrari, just over half a tenth clear of Lando Norris!

Q2

In Qualifying 2, Carlos Sainz, Yuki Tsunoda, Nico Hulkenberg, George Russell, and Andrea Kimi Antonelli all failed to make it into the Top 10 shootout! Carlos Sainz will be bitterly disappointed to have missed out on a spot Q3 at a place like Monaco, and Yuki Tsunoda found himself some 5 and a half tenths off his Red Bull teammates’ pace! Nico Hulkenberg should be pleased with 13th for Kick Sauber, but the same cannot be said for Mercedes as George Russell suffered a horrible mechanical failure whilst Andrea Kimi Antonelli crashed in Q1! To say Mercedes need a miracle would be an understatement! The Top 2 from Q1 was flipped in Q1, with Lando just barely clear of Charles!

Q3

In Qualifying 3, a 1:09.954 was enough for Lando Norris to take a crucial Pole Position! Lando needed a result like this, especially given how tricky Monaco is, so he should be very pleased with his efforts! Even though you could tell he was disappointed, Charles Leclerc did a fantastic job to get P2, ahead of Oscar Piastri in third, whilst Lewis Hamilton was a bit further off in the other Ferrari! Max Verstappen could only manage 5th as Red Bull’s pace was seemingly nowhere, whilst Isack Hadjar pipped Fernando Alonso to P6 by just 1 thousandths of a second as both guys stared! Esteban Ocon also did a great job to get his Haas into P8, ahead of Liam Lawson who really needed a result like this, whilst Alex Albon will be very frustrated as his final lap time was some 5 tenths slower than his lap in Q2!