2026 Monaco Grand Prix Qualifying Review

Linus O'Howell
1 day ago
2 min read

The biggest, best, and most important Qualifying of the season took place today as all 22 drivers risked it all for a chance at Pole around the famous Monte Carlo streets!

Q1

In Qualifying 1, Esteban Ocon, Sergio Perez, Oliver Bearman, Valtteri Bottas, Fernando Alonso, and Lance Stroll were the six slowest drivers! Esteban Ocon was less than half a tenth off making it into Q2, whilst Sergio Perez wasn’t much further back for Cadillac! Oliver Bearman could only manage 19th in the other Haas after an unfortunately-timed Red Flag, whilst Valtteri Bottas was once again miles off his teammate’s pace! Aston Martin managed to lock out the back row of the grid, with Fernando Alonso some 7 tenths clear of Lance Stroll! However, it is worth mentioning that Stroll got done over by the Red Flag (in terms of lap time, probably not the position)! Charles Leclerc was on top at home in Q1, basically 2 tenths clear of Max Verstappen!

Q2

In Qualifying 2, Alex Albon, Carlos Sainz, Nico Hulkenberg, Franco Colapinto, Arvid Lindblad, and Gabriel Bortoleto all failed to make it into the Top 10 shootout! Both Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz were close to making it into Q3 for Williams, whilst Nico Hulkenberg finally wasn’t P11! Franco Colapinto will probably be disappointed with 14th, as will Arvid Lindblad with 15th, whilst Gabriel Bortoleto was unable to get a lap time on the board in Q2 after crashing in the first part of Qualifying! It feels like Audi have missed another opportunity to succeed! Verstappen managed to top Q2 for Red Bull, over 2 tenths clear of Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes!

Q3

In Qualifying 3, a fantastic 1:12.051 was enough for Andrea Kimi Antonelli to take his first Monaco Pole Position! In a weekend where everyone’s talked about Ferrari, Kimi Antonelli proved himself as Italian motorsports’ current superstar! Max Verstappen came close to taking Pole himself; 43 thousandths separated the top two, whilst Lewis Hamilton completed the Top 3! In fact, Ferrari had to settle for the second row of the grid, only, with Charles Leclerc crashing on his final run, whilst Isack Hadjar will start 5th! A struggling and off the pace George Russell could only manage 6th in the other Mercedes, whilst McLaren had a horrible Q3, with Oscar Piastri out-qualifying Lando Norris! Pierre Gasly then managed to end up as the best of the rest in P9, whilst Liam Lawson rounded out the Top 10 after strong performances from the pair of them!