After taking pole last year with the fastest lap ever recorded at Monaco, Lando Norris suggested his record would be hard to beat. This year’s qualifying confirmed those expectations: new regulations have slowed times significantly, producing the slowest Monaco Grand Prix pole position since 2017.
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Andrea Kimi Antonelli claimed pole with a lap of 1’12.051, more than two seconds off Norris’s benchmark from last year.
Teams have reacted differently to the rule changes. McLaren appear to have suffered the most, lapping over two-and-a-half seconds slower than their 2025 pace. Mercedes, by comparison, have adapted much better and are only around half a second slower than last year. No other team is within 1.2 seconds of their best 2025 times.
Pre-weekend talk focused on Ferrari as Mercedes’ main rival, but on track it was Red Bull who matched Mercedes most closely. Max Verstappen was a few hundredths behind Antonelli in qualifying, though still about one-and-a-half seconds slower than Red Bull’s 2025 benchmark.
Sector times
The track improved quickly during qualifying, so most of the front-runners combined their fastest sector times on the final runs. Last year’s pole sitter, Norris, was an exception after a lock-up cost him significant time on his best lap. His earlier prediction that McLaren would struggle to reach the front rows this year proved accurate.
| P. | # | Driver | S1 | S2 | S3 | Ultimate lap (deficit) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | 18.934 (2) | 33.989 (2) | 19.128 (2) | 1’12.051 |
| 2 | 3 | Max Verstappen | 18.827 (1) | 34.184 (4) | 19.083 (1) | 1’12.094 |
| 3 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | 19.103 (8) | 33.957 (1) | 19.219 (4) | 1’12.279 |
| 4 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | 18.986 (4) | 34.035 (3) | 19.274 (7) | 1’12.295 (+0.056) |
| 5 | 6 | Isack Hadjar | 19.001 (5) | 34.202 (5) | 19.231 (6) | 1’12.434 |
| 6 | 63 | George Russell | 18.970 (3) | 34.253 (6) | 19.222 (5) | 1’12.445 |
| 7 | 1 | Lando Norris | 19.025 (6) | 34.297 (8) | 19.181 (3) | 1’12.503 (+0.262) |
| 8 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | 19.039 (7) | 34.257 (7) | 19.289 (8) | 1’12.585 (+0.039) |
| 9 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | 19.278 (10) | 34.512 (9) | 19.436 (10) | 1’13.226 |
| 10 | 30 | Liam Lawson | 19.209 (9) | 34.709 (10) | 19.355 (9) | 1’13.273 (+0.139) |
| 11 | 23 | Alexander Albon | 19.350 (13) | 34.774 (11) | 19.554 (13) | 1’13.678 (+0.109) |
| 12 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | 19.342 (12) | 34.796 (12) | 19.561 (14) | 1’13.699 (+0.116) |
| 13 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | 19.413 (14) | 34.871 (13) | 19.466 (11) | 1’13.750 (+0.152) |
| 14 | 43 | Franco Colapinto | 19.304 (11) | 35.010 (14) | 19.489 (12) | 1’13.803 (+0.192) |
| 15 | 41 | Arvid Lindblad | 19.449 (15) | 35.016 (15) | 19.600 (15) | 1’14.065 (+0.183) |
| 16 | 87 | Oliver Bearman | 19.566 (18) | 35.178 (16) | 19.890 (18) | 1’14.634 (+0.180) |
| 17 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | 19.620 (19) | 35.247 (17) | 19.800 (16) | 1’14.667 (+0.055) |
| 18 | 5 | Gabriel Bortoleto | 19.493 (17) | 35.314 (19) | 19.876 (17) | 1’14.683 |
| 19 | 11 | Sergio Perez | 19.485 (16) | 35.304 (18) | 19.958 (20) | 1’14.747 |
| 20 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | 19.862 (21) | 35.420 (20) | 19.909 (19) | 1’15.191 (+0.092) |
| 21 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | 19.764 (20) | 35.556 (21) | 20.029 (21) | 1’15.349 |
| 22 | 18 | Lance Stroll | 19.948 (22) | 35.799 (22) | 20.212 (22) | 1’15.959 (+0.102) |
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