Norris beats Leclerc to pole in Monaco, sets track record; Piastri P3, Hamilton demoted from P4 due to blocking penalty
On the biggest race weekend of the year, with the traditional Memorial Day Weekend Sunday lineup of the Monaco Grand Prix, the Indianapolis 500, and the Coca-Cola 600, Saturday qualifying for arguably the most prestigious trophy of them all took place on the fabled streets of the Principality of Monaco under perfect conditions. With the elite teams of Formula 1 posting ultra-competitive lap times on this tight and twisty temporary circuit, it came down to a final Q3 shootout between hometown hero and Ferrari ace Charles Leclerc and the two McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. In the end, Norris pipped Leclerc for pole by dint of setting the new lap record, an astonishing 1:09.954, ahead of the Monegasque’s seemingly impervious 1:10.063. It was quite the fillip for young Norris, who, after displaying a lack of confidence under intense pressure from teammate Piastri, has reasserted himself with his decent P2 in Emilia-Romagna last weekend and today’s impressive one-lap heroics on one of the toughest circuits on the calendar. Of course, Leclerc will be charging hard from P2 at the start of tomorrow’s tilt in an effort to execute an opening lap pass on Norris, often the surest way to victory on what is one of the most difficult tracks on which to overtake.
Lando Norris mastered the streets of Monaco in qualifying ⏱️
Ride onboard with the @McLarenF1 driver as he storms to pole 💪#F1 #MonacoGP @pirellisport pic.twitter.com/gubG865s7B
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 24, 2025
With Piastri coming up a bit short of that sterling top two and slotting in at P3, it appeared his partner in the second row on the grid would be the second Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton. But Hamilton, who had a small shunt to end free Practice 3, was also dinged three grid spots for impeding Red Bull’s Max Verstappen during qualifying after his race engineer gave him some incorrect information about Verstappen’s pace on track. That dropped Hamilton to a difficult P7 spot on tomorrow’s grid, while Verstappen reaped the rewards and was elevated to P4 despite only qualifying P5. The Racing Bull of impressive rookie Isack Hadjar and the Aston Martin of veteran pilot Fernando Alonso also benefitted from Hamilton’s misfortune, with Hadjar being promoted to P5 and Alonso to P6 for tomrorow’s race. Esteban Ocon did yeoman’s work to make Q3 and hustle his Haas up to P8; the second Racing Bull of Liam Lawson qualified a confidence-boosting P9 and Alexander Albon put his Williams in P10.
Top 10 qualifiers for the Monaco GP:
|
POS |
NO |
DRIVER |
CAR |
Q1 |
Q2 |
Q3 |
LAPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
4 |
Lando Norris |
McLaren Mercedes |
1:11.285 |
1:10.570 |
1:09.954 |
27 |
|
2 |
16 |
Charles Leclerc |
Ferrari |
1:11.229 |
1:10.581 |
1:10.063 |
27 |
|
3 |
81 |
Oscar Piastri |
McLaren Mercedes |
1:11.308 |
1:10.858 |
1:10.129 |
29 |
|
4 |
44 |
Lewis Hamilton |
Ferrari |
1:11.575 |
1:10.883 |
1:10.382 |
28 |
|
5 |
1 |
Max Verstappen |
Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT |
1:11.431 |
1:10.875 |
1:10.669 |
21 |
|
6 |
6 |
Isack Hadjar |
Racing Bulls Honda RBPT |
1:11.811 |
1:11.040 |
1:10.923 |
27 |
|
7 |
14 |
Fernando Alonso |
Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes |
1:11.674 |
1:11.182 |
1:10.924 |
30 |
|
8 |
31 |
Esteban Ocon |
Haas Ferrari |
1:11.839 |
1:11.262 |
1:10.942 |
32 |
|
9 |
30 |
Liam Lawson |
Racing Bulls Honda RBPT |
1:11.818 |
1:11.250 |
1:11.129 |
26 |
|
10 |
23 |
Alexander Albon |
Williams Mercedes |
1:11.629 |
1:10.732 |
1:11.213 |
34 |
Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.
Tomorrow’s race airs live on ABC beginning at 9 AM Eastern here in the States. While it looks to be a Norris-Leclerc/McLaren-Ferrari shootout from the front, the second McLaren of Piastri and Verstappen’s Red Bull are sure to be in the mix thanks to Hamilton’s unfortunate penalty. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!