Qualifying for round 6 of the 2026 F1 season has been completed at the Monaco GP, view the full report here.
In FP3, Mercedes hit back against Ferrari’s dominance on Friday as Kimi Antonelli led Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, with George Russell in 4th. The #63 was much closer than the times suggested as he got baulked on a very fast lap.
Unfortunately for Ollie Bearman, he had an accident heading up to Massenet as the rear got away from him. He complained of bottoming. The rear wing was broken and his FP3 was done.
Green flag in Q1 at the 2026 Monaco GP
Sergio Pérez did a 1:16.743 to post the first time below 80s as drivers started to get heat in their tyres after multiple laps.
Charles Leclerc logged a 1:14.141 early on to lead Norris, Antonelli ans Hamilton. 0.201s covered them. The impressive Audis of Bortolero and Hülkenberg were in 5th and 6th.
On the second push lap, Charles Leclerc smashed in a 1:13.399 to put 0.397s into Lando Norris. Oscar Piastri went 3rd but was 0.760s away.
Into Mirabeau, George Russell had a massive snap and lost a chunk of time. He only went into P10 with that attempt.
Leclerc, Norris, Hamilton, Antonelli, Verstappen, Piastri, Hadjar, Bortoleto, Hülkenberg and Russell was the top 10 with five minutes left.
Albon, Gasly, Alonso, Pérez, Stroll and Bottas found themselves in the relegation zone.
Bortoleto crashes
Running in P14, Gabriel Bortoleto clipped the wall on the entry to the Nouvelle Chicane and broke his left front suspension, bringing out a red flag with 2:11 left.
Just before the red flag, Alex Albon put in a great lap to go 9th, with Sergio Pérez 0.025s away from getting into the top 16 before the final laps started. Bearman, Sainz, Bottas, Alonso and Stroll were also in the bottom six as the flag fell to end Q1.
The last car to cross the line was Carlos Sainz and he did a great lap to go P10, right behind teammate Alex Albon. Ollie Bearman made a tiny improvement but could not get out of the relegation zone.
A 1:13.290 from.Leclerc saw him lead Verstappen, Antonelli, Norris and Hamilton. Russell was down in P8.
Ocon, Pérez, Bearman, Bottas, Alonso and Stroll got knocked out.
Qualifying 2 begins
With Gabriel Bortoleto out despite getting through, only 15 cars ran in the middle segment of qualifying.
Max Verstappen posted the first proper time in Q2 as he did a 1:13.205. Then it changed quickly as Leclerc, Norris and Antonelli took turns at the top. The championship leader did a 1:12.778 to go 0.141s faster than the current World Champion.
On his second attempt, two purple sectors from the Dutchman split Antonelli and Norris. Leclerc, Piastri, Hamilton, Hadjar, Russell, Lawson and Hülkenberg was the top 10 with six minutes left.
Having gone purple in the middle sector, Leclerc finished up seven hundredths away from the Mercedes driver and take 2nd.
Sainz, Albon, Gasly, Lindblad, Colapinto needed to improve to make it through.
At the end, Max Verstappen put in a 1:12.499 to be P1 by 0.205s from Kimi Antonelli. Isack Hadjar did a great lap to make it a Red Bull 1-3.
Leclerc, Norris, Hamilton, Piastri and Russell also made it through easily.
Liam Lawson was the standout driver as he was P9, 0.291s ahead of Pierre Gasly as they got through to Q3.
Albon, Sainz, Hülkenberg, Colapinto and Lindblad joined Bortoleto in getting knocked out. The Thai missed out by 0.025s.
Q3 gets underway in 2026 F1 Monaco GP qualifying
Oscar Piastri logged a 1:12.916 to properly kick things off in Q3.
However, it was Kimi Antonelli once more who was fastest as he did a 1:12.375 in the Mercedes, 0.001s faster than Max Verstappen who was purple in sectors 1 and 3. Lewis Hamilton was P3, 0.178s slower than the Italian.
Norris, Russell, Hadjar, Piastri, Lawson, Gasly and Leclerc was the rest of the order. Car #16 had a massive snap in Massenet, and he was fortunate that he did not find the wall.
For a minute or two, Charles Leclerc jumped to the top on a 1:12.351. It did not last. Max Verstappen looked to be on pole with a 1:12.094, until Kimi Antonelli did a superb 1:12.051 to snatch it away. Lewis Hamilton reclaimed P3 from his teammate.
As Leclerc went again, he hit the wall at Tabac, damaging his right rear tyre. It did not hinder anyone else’s laps. He was P4, ahead of Hadjar, Russell, Piastri, Norris, Gasly and Lawson.
