Following a couple of very difficult weekends, Pierre Gasly had a strong qualifying for the 2026 F1 Monaco GP, winning the best of the rest fight behind the top four teams.
In practice and through qualifying, it did not look that way. Having finished P10 in FP1, he did not appear in the top 10 again until Q2. Nonetheless, Gasly was always on the fringes of it.
In the middle segment of qualifying, the 30-year-old made it through by 0.025s, narrowly fending off the Williams duo.
0.3s slower than Liam Lawson in Q2, the Alpine driver found over half a second in the top 10 fight to take P9 by 0.186s.
Pierre Gasly delighted with 2026 F1 Monaco GP qualifying performance
Analysing his qualifying and weekend to date, the 2020 Italian Grand Prix winner could not hide his delight at the job he did on Saturday afternoon.
“Yeah, I mean, this one feels fucking good. Yeah, I mean, it’s Monaco.
“It’s been a pretty tricky weekend. FP1, FP2, FP3, like, performance-wise, the Audi looked really strong. Some other cars looked quite competitive, so we really had to dig deep to find performance to get to Q3. We managed to sneak for a couple of hundreds.
“Yeah, I mean, especially in my last lap in Q3, I just went full in and it worked out.
“I’m still buzzing, still full of adrenaline. When I crossed the line, I was just […] really, everything worked out, I tried to sneak everything out of it.
“And, yeah, I managed to make it work, so yeah, very pleased.
“Not an easy weekend, but we managed to, let’s say, get our pole position of the midfield, which is the best we could get, because the top four at the moment are just too far away.”
Leaving nothing on the table
At the end of Q3 at the 2026 F1 Monaco GP, Pierre Gasly went maximum attack to try and secure 9th on the grid. Having clocked a 1:14.012 on used tyres, he found an almost mammoth 0.8s on the second attempt.
The Alpine driver talked about how he pushed absolutely everything to the limit on the final run.
“It comes with adrenaline, with stress. I mean, there is a lot at stake, because you’re not really playing with kerb or track limits. You’re playing with walls.
“It was nice. I mean, I still have the lap in my mind. You just try to brake that metre later, pick up the power a bit more, like the couple of centimetres margin you have on exit to the wall.
“All in [on] the last lap, I just knew I had to go for it.
“And yeah, definitely felt exciting.”
Still some questions about issues with the car
At the Miami and Canadian Grands Prix, Pierre Gasly struggled with his A526, with traction and a lack of grip from the rear a serious issue. Teammate Franco Colapinto outperformed him across both events.
While he was buzzing post-qualifying, the former Red Bull driver admitted he wants to wait until Barcelona next weekend to see if the issues have been solved.
“No, I mean, there have been a lot of things changing, because in Canada there was clear evidence that we’re lacking grip on the rear axle on my car. I think the team tried to really exclude any part that could potentially be the reason for it.
“I mean, Monaco is a tough one to get a feel, you’re sliding all over the place.
“I’m waiting for Barcelona to get a clear understanding. I think this weekend was more about […] it’s Monaco, just get away with it. And that’s what we did, so I’m very happy.”
