McLaren’s Lando Norris snatched pole position in a dramatic climax to Qualifying for the 2025 Monaco Grand Prix.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc completed a practice clean sweep in FP3 yet come Qualifying, Norris ultimately rose to the challenge to deny the Monegasque a fourth pole position in a session disrupted by two red flags yet rewarded with a breath-taking dramatic climax in Q3.
FP3
Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson was first on track alongside Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and his own teammate – Isak Hadjar, but it was Alpine’s Franco Colapinto who set the benchmark time of 1m 21.905 on the soft tyre.
The Argentinean then lowered his benchmark time to 1m 15.852 on his next lap but Lawson briefly displaced him, before Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg twice went fastest as he lowered the benchmark to 1m 13.916 on the medium tyre before he then suffered a lock-up at Rascasse in the 16th minute.
Lance Stroll soon displaced Hulkenberg before Norris and Leclerc exchanged fastest laps on the soft tyre until Verstappen produced 1m 11.961 in the 25th minute on the medium tyre, only to then lower his benchmark to 1m 11.653 to put himself fastest at the halfway mark.
Verstappen eventually lowered his benchmark to 1m 11.233 just past the hour mark but once he switched to the soft tyre, the four-time champion complained of grip issues and he and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso were the only driver to not improve on their medium tyre lap time as everyone else managed a soft-tyre flier improvement.
Leclerc eventually emerged fastest with 1m 10.953 set in the closing few minutes to top the session from Verstappen and Norris.
Hamilton however brought the session to a premature end with two minutes left after he lost control of the rear of his Ferrari through Massenet into Casino Square, which sent him sliding into the barriers with his front-right tyre detached in the incident.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m 10.953 |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.280 |
| 3 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.294 |
| 4 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.445 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | + 0.563 |
| 6 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.715 |
| 7 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | + 0.861 |
| 8 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | + 0.940 |
| 9 | Yuki Tsunoda | Red Bull | + 0.999 |
| 10 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | + 1.060 |
| 11 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 1.113 |
| 12 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 1.148 |
| 13 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber | + 1.172 |
| 14 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 1.241 |
| 15 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.249 |
| 16 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | + 1.298 |
| 17 | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls | + 1.318 |
| 18 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | + 1.546 |
| 19 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Sauber | + 1.648 |
| 20 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | + 1.898 |
Qualifying
Q1
Albon was first on track and set 1m 22.067 as the initial benchmark on his first flier but several drivers usurped him and once everyone set their first lap time, Verstappen sat top with 1m 11.920 as the last driver over the line.
Antonelli, Alonso, Ocon, Colapinto and Bortoleto meanwhile found themselves in the elimination zone at the halfway mark once Verstappen set his fastest lap, with Colapinto the only driver in the bottom five to run medium tyres alongside his Alpine teammate – Gasly.
Up front, several drivers displaced Verstappen as Norris, Piastri then Leclerc with an eventual Q1-topping 1m 11.229 went quickest as the track conditions evolved rapidly towards the end of the segment.
As the checkered flag fell, Antonelli, Alonso and Ocon survived as Bortoleto narrowly missed out to Antonelli by just 0.022 seconds in 16th position, whilst his Italian rival crashed at Nouvelle Chicane to red flag the session at the checkered flag.
Bearman finished 17th ahead of Gasly, Stroll and Colapinto but will start last after he picked up a ten-place grid penalty for overtaking Sainz under red flags in FP2.
Stroll will start 19th due to his one-place grid penalty for a FP1 collision with Leclerc into Lowes hairpin, which promoted Gasly and Colapinto to 17th and 18th on the grid.
Q2
Hulkenberg was first to venture straight out on track ahead of both Williams drivers and the German proceeded to set 1m 22.400 as the initial benchmark, but his time was soon usurped by everyone else before he improved to 1m 11.864 on his second flier to go eighth.
Norris meanwhile found himself fastest with 1m 10.959 when the red flags came out with ten minutes and eight seconds left on the clock, after Russell stopped inside the tunnel between Portier and Nouvelle Chicane with a power unit electrical failure.
Ferrari and Williams had sent their drivers out on medium tyres for their opening Q2 runs which left Leclerc in third ahead of Albon and Hamilton ninth in front of Sainz at time of stoppage.
Ocon, Tsunoda and Piastri were sat in the drop zone alongside both Mercedes driver at the time of the red flag.
Once the session resumed after a ten-minute pause, Hulkenberg led a queue of cars out onto the circuit during which Leclerc and Hamilton switched to the soft tyre, in a move which saw Leclerc go top with 1m 10.581 ahead of Hamilton by 0.302s.
Norris however displaced the Monegasque with four minutes left on a Q2-topping 1m 10.570 to go fastest whilst Albon and Sainz switched from medium to soft tyres for their final runs, despite having found themselves fifth and eighth respectively with two minutes left.
At the checkered flag, Sainz’s soft-tyre gamble failed to pay off as he found himself eliminated in 11th ahead of Tsunoda and Hulkenberg who will line up 12th and 13th on the grid respectively.
Q3
Ocon headed a queue of drivers out onto the circuit for their opening Q3 runs and set a benchmark time of 1m 19.710 on the medium tyres unlike everyone else, which Piastri immediately usurped with 1m 10.531 to go fastest,
The Aussie however was displaced by Norris who found 0.067s to head his McLaren teammate with 1m 10.464 and go onto provisional pole, whilst Leclerc found himself third ahead of; Verstappen, Hamilton, Albon, Ocon, Alonso and Lawson, whilst Hadjar didn’t venture out for an early Q3 run.
McLaren opted to send Piastri and Norris out for their final Q3 runs early and Piastri responded with 1m 10.140 to go quickest with two minutes left, but Norris immediately hit back to snatch provisional pole by 0.015s.
Leclerc however stunned the pair with 1m 10.063 to put himself fastest at the checkered flag, yet Norris left it to the death to snatch his first pole on the streets on Monaco with a new all-time lap record.
Piastri qualified third as McLaren head Ferrari on both the first and second row, whilst Verstappen will start fifth alongside Hadjar, with Alonso, Ocon, Lawson and Albon rounding out the top ten.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1m 09.954 |
| 2 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.109 |
| 3 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.175 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | + 0.428 |
| 5 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.715 |
| 6 | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls | + 0.969 |
| 7 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.970 |
| 8 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | + 0.988 |
| 9 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | + 1.175 |
| 10 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 1.259 |
| 11 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | 1m 11.362 |
| 12 | Yuki Tsunoda | Red Bull | + 0.053 |
| 13 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber | + 0.234 |
| 14 | George Russell | Mercedes | No Time |
| 15 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | No Time |
| 16 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Sauber | 1m 11.907 |
| 17 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | + 0.077 |
| 18 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 0.092 |
| 19 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.661 |
| 20 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | + 0.695 |
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