Red hot Antonelli snatches Monaco pole from razor sharp Verstappen; Hamilton out-duels hometown favorite Leclerc for P3: Russell struggles en route to P6
Mercedes young phenom Kimi Antonelli, winner of the last four Grand Prix on the trot, continued his red hot ways by wresting pole away from a very game Max Verstappen during Saturday Qualifying for the legendary Monaco Grand Prix. With the tight and twisty streets of the principality looking more claustrophobic than even, Antonelli kept his foot in it on his final flying lap, as he had done all day, mastering the ultimate street circuit on the F1 calendar to the tune of a 1:12.051 lap. That was a little over four-tenths quicker than Verstappen’s best effort in his Red Bull. But he and the team will still be very pleased to come home P2 on the day and to be so close in competitiveness to mighty Mercedes, at least for this one very atypical race. Antonelli and Verstappen’s excellence also put Ferrari in the shade when many had been picking one of the two Prancing Horses to start from pole on Sunday. Instead, Lewis Hamilton got the better of hometown favorite Charles Leclerc, P3 to P4. The Monegasque native recovered from being mired down in P10 earlier in Q3 to take provisional pole with his penultimate lap but then whammed the barriers at Tabac on his final flier, ending any hopes of improvement.
Red Bull’s second driver, Isack Hadjar, also performed well, capturing P5 on the grid. That was one spot better than George Russell’s Mercedes, the Briton looking less than comfortable in the cramped confines all weekend so far, in contrast to youthful upstart Antonelli. At a place where passing is nigh impossible, Russell will have it all to do come race day to somehow keep up with his streaking points-leading teammate at the front. After some glimmers in qualifying, McLaren underwhelmed when it really counted, with Oscar Piastri only good enough for P7 and Lando Norris just behind his Aussie teammate in P8. On the other hand, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Racing Bulls Liam Lawson exceeded expectations, qualifying P9 and P10 respectively despite both just scraping through to progress in the first two Quali sessions.
Top 10 qualifiers for the Monaco GP:
| POS | DRIVER | TEAM | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | LAPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
Mercedes | 1:13.599 | 1:12.704 | 1:12.051 | 28 |
| 2 |
|
Red Bull | 1:13.490 | 1:12.499 | 1:12.094 | 26 |
| 3 |
|
Ferrari | 1:13.777 | 1:12.934 | 1:12.279 | 28 |
| 4 |
|
Ferrari | 1:13.293 | 1:12.774 | 1:12.351 | 29 |
| 5 |
|
Red Bull | 1:14.408 | 1:12.722 | 1:12.434 | 25 |
| 6 |
|
Mercedes | 1:14.214 | 1:13.238 | 1:12.445 | 28 |
| 7 |
|
McLaren | 1:14.159 | 1:12.983 | 1:12.624 | 29 |
| 8 |
|
McLaren | 1:13.630 | 1:12.919 | 1:12.765 | 28 |
| 9 |
|
Alpine | 1:14.469 | 1:13.762 | 1:13.226 | 32 |
| 10 |
|
Racing Bulls | 1:14.498 | 1:13.471 | 1:13.412 | 29 |
Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.
Sunday’s race airs live beginning at 9 AM Eastern on AppleTV here in the States. The opening lap battle for supremacy between Antonelli and Verstappen should be epic and the Ferarri duo of Hamilton and Leclerc will be looking to take advantage of any contact between the two. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!