Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli takes pole at the 2026 F1 Monaco Grand Prix. While Ferrari were the favourites of the weekend following a strong outing on Friday, Mercedes emerged as the top contenders for pole on Saturday morning. Antonelli especially showed significant improvement in pace and topped during the final free practice session of the Monaco Grand Prix weekend.
It was a tight four-way battle for pole position among crowd favourite Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton, a late-stage contender Max Verstappen and Antonelli himself. The Italian left nothing on track and clinched his maiden pole position in Monte-Carlo after a thrilling Qualifying session. Verstappen completes the front row in P2, missing pole by a mere 0.043s. Meanwhile, Hamilton slots his Ferrari in P3, just two tenths slower than pole sitter Antonelli.
Red flag brought out by Bortoletto with 2 minutes to go in Q1
Hometown hero Charles Leclerc was on track to clinch his fourth pole position at the Circuit de Monaco. The Monegasque had topped Q1 with a clear advantage in pace.
It was also evident from Q1 that Mercedes’ George Russell was struggling to extract pace from his W17 as compared to Antonelli. The Italian driver had finished Q1 in P3 while the Briton found himself in P11. This would be a pattern that continued for the rest of Qualifying.
With 2:11 minutes left in Q1, the only red flag of Qualifying was brought out by Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto in the Nouvelle chicane. The Brazillian who had been fighting for a potential top 10 placement all weekend had radioed to say he broke the front suspension after making contact with the barriers.
At the resumption of Q1 with 2:11 minutes left on the clock, Cadillac leads the queue back on track. Many drivers had pitted at the end of their out laps since they were safe. However, drivers such as Williams’ Carlos Sainz and Haas’ Ollie Bearman, who were stuck in the bottom six prior to the resumption, had made their way back on track for their flying lap. Only Sainz made a significant improvement and finished P10, advancing to Q2.
Verstappen emerged as a late-stage contender
Q2 was when the drivers began pushing their cars on track, and the competition started to look tougher. McLaren’s Lando Norris and Verstappen showed significant improvement in pace and dominated the top spots for the majority of the session alongside Leclerc and Antonelli.
Hamilton, who was three tenths behind Leclerc, had pitted for a front wing adjustment, which worked for the Birton, who emerged from the pits with a lot more pace.
Verstappen topped Q2 and emerged as an unexpected strong contender for pole as he stayed two tenths clear of Antonelli. While Russell’s struggle for pace continued as he failed to put in a clean lap and stayed in P8.
Tight competition for pole and a disappointing end to Qualifying for Leclerc
Antonelli had set the pace during the initial runs of Q3. However, the time to beat only got harder as drivers with the likes of Leclerc and Verstappen continued to improve on track.
Leclerc, who was on a different strategy compared to the majority of the grid in Q3, was last to deliver his final flying lap and threatened to take pole from Antonelli, who had clocked in a 1:12.051. However, in the final moments of his attempt, the Monegasque had hit the wall, causing him to abort. Leclerc had to settle for P4 and will line up beside teammate Hamilton on the grid tomorrow.
Isack Hadjar placed himself in P5 with Russell sitting in P6 after a challenging session, finishing the third role. The Briton will be looking to investigate with Mercedes on what went wrong. The McLarens complete the fourth row while Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson claim P9 and P10 respectively to complete the top 10 of the 2026 F1 Monaco Grand Prix starting grid.
