Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli has claimed pole position for the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix.
Antonelli topped FP3 and continued his improved momentum into Qualifying to eventually snatch pole position in a tense finish to head Max Verstappen, who emerged as his nearest competitor throughout Q3 as the pair were split by less than one-tenth of a second across both runs.
FP3
Lewis Hamilton was first out on track on the soft tyres and set 1m 22.231 as the initial benchmark, which he quickly lowered to 1m 15.246 on his first proper flying lap, only for his Ferrari teammate, Charles Leclerc to go 0.062 seconds quicker.
Hamilton responded with 1m 14.390 but McLaren’s Lando Norris went 0.015s quicker, before George Russell posted 1m 13.902 to lower the benchmark further.
Leclerc and Antonelli soon lowered the benchmark further as they exchanged lap times but it was the Italian fastest at the halfway mark, having set 1m 13.157 in the 27th minute as everyone ran the soft tyre in the opening half-hour.
As attention switched early to the soft-tyre qualifying simulations in anticipation at the risk of a red flag, Antonelli set 1m 12.720 to further lower his benchmark time with 19 minutes left.
The red flag eventually came in the 46th minute after Haas’ Oliver Bearman lost control of his car over a bump up Massenet as he swerved wider to the right than normal, as he attempted to avoid a slow-moving Russell on the left.
The session resumed with three minutes left but very few were able to improve as Antonelli’s well-timed lap proved enough to top the session.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 1m 12.720 |
| 2 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.327 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | + 0.331 |
| 4 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.763 |
| 5 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.942 |
| 6 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.978 |
| 7 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | + 1.100 |
| 8 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull | + 1.157 |
| 9 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 1.286 |
| 10 | Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | + 1.330 |
| 11 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | + 1.558 |
| 12 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | + 1.616 |
| 13 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 1.760 |
| 14 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | + 1.767 |
| 15 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | + 1.867 |
| 16 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 2.081 |
| 17 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | + 2.198 |
| 18 | Sergio Perez | Cadillac | + 2.225 |
| 19 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | + 2.459 |
| 20 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | + 2.731 |
| 21 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 2.847 |
| 22 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 3.201 |
Qualifying
Q1
Perez and Bottas were first out on track and the former set 1m 20.242 as the initial benchmark time, which he soon lowered to 1m 16.473 but was usurped by several drivers as Leclerc topped the opening laps with 1m 13.141 from Norris.
Norris and Leclerc subsequently exchanged fastest laps to lower the benchmark to 1m 13.399, before the Monegasque further lowered the benchmark at his home event to 1m 13.293 with five minutes left.
The bottom six at the halfway mark comprised of; Colapinto, Alonso, Perez, Stroll, Albon and Bottas, although Albon and Colapinto had got out by the time red flags came out with two minutes and 11 seconds left after Bortoleto stopped across the Nouvelle Chicane after he clipped the left-sided barrier on entry.
The Brazilian consequently suffered session-ending damage to his front-left suspension and was unable to avoid going straight into the barrier.
Perez had at that point improved to 17th ahead of Bearman, Sainz, Bottas, Alonso and Stroll but only Sainz survived at the checkered flag once the session resumed after a six-minute stoppage, as he improved to tenth and dropped Ocon out of Qualifying.
Perez consequently will start behind Ocon in 18th, with Bearman and Bottas sharing the second-last row ahead of the two Aston Martin drivers as Alonso outqualified Stroll.
Q2
Gasly was first on track ahead of Colapinto and proceeded to set 1m 20.220 as the initial unrepresentative benchmark time, but Verstappen soon set a more representative 1m 13.205 a minute later.
Times soon tumbled as Leclerc set 1m 12.928 only for Norris to pip him by 0.009s, but the Brit was soon displaced by Antonelli with 1m 12.778.
The bottom five after the first fliers minus Bortoleto – as the Brazilian took no further part despite having qualified Q2 – comprised of; Lawson, Gasly, Lindblad, Albon and Colapinto.
Lawson however improved to ninth on his second flier to drop Hulkenberg into the drop zone but the German responded to drop Sainz into the bottom six with six minutes left in the segment, whilst Antonelli lowered the overall benchmark time to 1m 12.704.
With two minutes left, Gasly improved to ninth from 13th to leave Hulkenberg back at risk of elimination as the checkered flag approached, yet he couldn’t survive as he only qualified 13th behind Williams’ Albon and Sainz.
Colapinto and Lindblad rounded out the eliminees in 14th and 15th positions respectively, whilst Bortoleto will line up 16th.
Verstappen topped the segment with 1m 12.499 from Antonelli and Hadjar.
Q3
Piastri led Norris out as the first pair to hit the track for the final qualifying segment and proceeded to set 1m 19.182 as the initial benchmark, but Norris and Leclerc quickly usurped his lap time before Piastri laid 1m 12.916 as the representative benchmark time.
Norris and Hamilton quickly usurped him before Antonelli set 1m 12.375 as the time to beat ahead of Verstappen by 0.001s.
Antonelli’s time left him on provisional pole at the halfway mark from Verstappen, Hamilton, Norris, Russell, Hadjar, Piastri, Lawson, Gasly and Leclerc, although Leclerc had aborted his representative flier after a mistake.
Leclerc consequently went early for his second run and aborted his first flier but set 1m 12.351 on his second lap to go quickest overall.
Verstappen however responded with 1m 12.094 but Antonelli found a further 0.043s to take his first pole on the streets of Monaco with 1m 12.051 to head the four-time champion, with it being his fourth Grand Prix pole in five races.
Hamilton outqualified Leclerc on the second row ahead of Hadjar, Russell, Piastri, Norris, Gasly and Lawson.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 1m 12.051 |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.043 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | + 0.228 |
| 4 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.300 |
| 5 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull | + 0.383 |
| 6 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.394 |
| 7 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.573 |
| 8 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.714 |
| 9 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 1.175 |
| 10 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | + 1.361 |
| 11 | Alex Albon | Williams | 1m 13.787 |
| 12 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | + 0.028 |
| 13 | Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | + 0.115 |
| 14 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | + 0.208 |
| 15 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | + 0.461 |
| 16 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | No Time |
| 17 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | 1m 14.722 |
| 18 | Sergio Perez | Cadillac | + 0.025 |
| 19 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | + 0.092 |
| 20 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | + 0.561 |
| 21 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.627 |
| 22 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.339 |