Monaco Grand Prix Qualifying: Kimi Antonelli on pole, denies Max Verstappen, Ferrari fade
F1 NewsSaturday, 06 June 2026 at 17:02
Kimi Antonelli delivered a performance beyond his years to take pole for the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix denying Max Verstappen by the slightest of margins on a day when Ferrari failed to deliver.
The 2026 Formula 1 Championship leader was on fire and confirmed the form he showed in FP3 was no fluke, managing to take pole, his fourth in the top flight after the closest of fights with Verstappen.
Qualifying swayed in several directions from the start but it appeared it would be a fight between home hero Charles Leclerc and Antonelli with Verstappen threatening to upset the order.
But then the Dutchman showed his true pace with a great lap in Q2 which he topped and it all then went down to the final shootout in Q3.
Leclerc was never on it in Q3 and while he topped it briefly, it was clear that the fight was between Verstappen and Antonelli which was the case.
Verstappen finished his final lap first only for Antonelli to better him by 0.043s in what was a great Qualifying battle.
In the end Ferrari's pre-Monaco hype did not materialize as Lewis Hamilton was third, 0.228s off the pace ahead of Leclerc who was fourth, three tenths off the pace.
Isack Hadjar was fifth fastest in the second Red Bull ahead of George Russell who was never in the zone and ended Qualifying is sixth, four tenths off pole position.
McLaren could not match their rivals and were seventh and eighth respectively with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, not the result they would've hoped for on their 1000th Grand Prix weekend.
Pierre Gasly and Liam Lawson did well to qualifying ninth and tenth respectively.
What the top three said
“It was one of those laps that we call a magic lap," Antonelli said afterwards. "I was able to put it all together.
“It was such a close qualifying with Max. The first run of Q3 there was just one millisecond between us.
“But I knew the last lap was good and I was just hoping that it would be enough. It was very close, and I’m very happy with that.
“Massive thanks to the team because yesterday we struggled a little bit and today we were able to improve massively," he concluded.
Verstappen admitted he didn't expect to be that close to pole, he added: "If you would have told me yesterday to be on the front row, I would have definitely taken it.
"This morning we had quite some difficulties with the car so heading into qualifying and being up there was extremely positive. So overall, of course, extremely happy with how qualifying went, how all the laps went even though you have to deal with all the traffic - and also the walls.
"But I'm happy to be on the front row and then, tomorrow, let's see in the start. These cars are quite complicated to start. I have two cars behind me that start quite well but we'll see.
"This was a good day and definitely enjoyed it in qualifying," the four-time F1 Champion concluded.
“Congrats to Kimi. Mega, mega job," Hamilton added after taking third. "Having your first pole here is so special.
“It was tough for us," he said of Ferrari's session. "We were looking so strong in practice, and we barely changed anything, but the car was drastically different once we got to qualifying for some reason, so we have to take a deep dive into that.
“I gave it absolutely everything," the Briton went on. "I was as close to the barriers as I could be, and what a privilege it is to be here, to be one of the 22 drivers in F1 getting to do this still. I love every second of it.
“I think it is definitely very close between us all. I thought we almost maybe nearly had it, and then Max put in a good time and then Kimi. I think it’s great to see how close all the cars are.
"I think we lost something going into today, and that’s what we need to try to figure out," Hamilton concluded.
Q1: Bortoleto taps the barrier a tad too hard!
Track temperatures were quote higher as Qualifying began compared to the final practice, 47 degrees Celsius while air temperature was 24 degrees, which might be interesting from a tyres point of view as this was the hottest the track was since the start of the weekend up to now.
The drivers queued up in the pitlane waiting for the green light in what would be a busy Q1 with 22 cars fighting for a place in Q2.
Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas led the way out on track in their Cadillacs hoping their brakes wouldn't catch fire.
🟢 GREEN FOR Q1 🟢
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 6, 2026
It's time for one of the sessions of the season! 😮💨🙌#F1 #MonacoGP pic.twitter.com/8utLGmYvbg
Hamilton soon radioed saying that Leclerc was backing into him as all drivers were driving around looking for a gap to put in a banker lap.
Hadjar was not happy with the traffic complaining on the radio that his prep lap was the worst ever in typical Hadjar manner!
Norris was the first of the top teams to put in a lap and went fastest but soon was dropped by Leclerc as Antonelli was third and Hamilton fourth. Piastri was seventh behind Bortoleto and Hulkenberg in their Audis.
Charles Leclerc to the top of the timesheets! ⬆️🟣
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 6, 2026
And it's by +0.154s 👀#F1 #MonacoGP pic.twitter.com/z7R0P7iOkF
Hadjar went ninth as Verstappen came through and went only fifth, his lap not ideal with traffic.
With less than ten minutes remaining, the drivers started their second runs to book a place in Q2.
Early on, both Mercedes seemed to have dropped compared to FP3 while Ferrari with Leclerc looked better with Verstappen mixing it with them.
Both Russell and Antonelli had a couple of moments and got away with them.
Antonelli with a BIG moment at Tabac, and Russell with one at Mirabeau! 👀
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 6, 2026
Russell has put in a time that's only good enough for P10 right now 😲#F1 #MonacoGP pic.twitter.com/Ed8Zi6tIli
With less than three minutes remaining, the Yellow Flag came out and soon after became a Red one.
Replay showed Gabriel Bortoleto parked in the middle of the track at the Nouvelle Chicane with a broken front left suspension after tapping the barrier.
There is NO margin for error in Monaco! 🤯
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 6, 2026
This is the impact which ended Gabi Bortoleto's Qualifying prematurely 👇#F1 #MonacoGP pic.twitter.com/jfrNLPmvAC
The session was restarted, and the top six did not even bother to venture out on track. In the end, Leclerc was fastest with a 1:13.293, 0.197s faster than Verstappen in second and 0.306s faster than Antonelli in third.
The rest of the top 16 were: Norris - Hamilton - Nico Hulkenberg - Piastri - Russell - Alex Albon - Carlos Sainz - Hadjar - Gasly - Lawson - Franco Colapinto - Gabriel Bortoleto - Arvid Lindblad.
Out of Qualifying were led by Esteban Ocon who was 17th fastest and knocked out by a last moment improvement from Sainz. He missed the cut by less than a tenth.
Perez was 18th for Cadillac ahead of Oliver Bearman in 19th while Bottas was 20th.
The Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were 21st and 22nd respectively.
Q2: Russell makes Q3 with difficulty
The remaining 16 cars lined up in the pitlane with Gasly and Colapinto heading out first. Verstappen almost collected Sainz who was released unsafely.
Verstappen started a timed lap first but then backed off as midfielders started doing their laps.
Verstappen went again and went fastest as Leclerc followed with Hamilton further behind.
Leclerc went faster than Verstappen as Hamilton went second fastest behind him. Piastri then went second as Hadjar went fifth.
The Norris went to the top only for Antonelli to go even faster as Russell was ninth.
Order after first runs: Antonelli - Norris - Leclerc - Piastri - Hamilton - Hadjar - Verstappen - Russell - Hulkenberg.
Antonelli ⬆️ into P1 from Norris and Leclerc! 👀
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 6, 2026
It's a 1:12.778 from the Mercedes driver with nine minutes left of Q2 💨#F1 #MonacoGP pic.twitter.com/wrGpJoqJvu
Russell did not seem comfortable in the car and had a wobble in the swimming pool section.
Some drivers did second runs on the same tyres, but with four minutes remaining form Q2, the final rounds began and in the end, Verstappen led the way with a 1:12.499, 0.205s ahead of Antonelli in second and 0.223s ahead of Hadjar in third.
The rest of the top ten: Leclerc - Norris - Hamilton - Piastri - Russell - Lawson - Gasly.
Eliminated in Q2 were: Albon who was 11th fastest ahead of Sainz in 12th as Hulkenberg failed to make Q3 and was in 13th.
Colapinto was 14th ahead of Lindblad who was 15th with Bortoleto classified in 16th after his Q1 crash.
Q3: Verstappen denied!
Without any delays, the final shootout of Qualifying began with the remaining ten cars hitting the track. The fight for pole was on.
Verstappen and Hadjar were the last two drivers to exit their garages as Red Bull took their time before unleashing them into Q3.
Leclerc went to the top but then dropped to third as Norris and Piastri taking one and two.
But then Hamilton put in a lap good enough for the top spot as Russell came in third with Antonelli going fastest as Verstappen was 0.001s behind the Italian in third.
+0.001s separates Antonelli and Verstappen for provisional pole! 🥶🤏
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 6, 2026
That is all.
#F1 #MonacoGP pic.twitter.com/O5QJQC5F7a
So it was Antonelli on provisional pole with the rest: Verstappen - Hamilton - Norris - Russell - Hadjar - Piastri - Lawson - Gasly - Leclerc.
Leclerc couldn't put a representative lap from the first attempt and was the first to get back out on track from another attempt.
Soon other drivers followed Leclerc out on track for the final time on Saturday in Monaco.
Leclerc improved and went to provisional pole and set the benchmark for Verstappen and Antonelli to beat.
Verstappen then came through with a stunning first sector and kept going to take the top sport by over two tenths.
Hamilton then came and took second with Russell coming through but only for sixth as Antonelli followed with Leclerc going another time.
Antonelli took the top spot from Verstappen by less than a tenth while Leclerc's second lap ended with an error.
Leclerc actually hit the wall at Tabac in the final moments of Quali 🤯
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 6, 2026
He stopped his Ferrari on track at Rascasse at the end 👇#F1 #MonacoGP pic.twitter.com/xcZ3LGPsK4
The final order was: Antonelli - Verstappen - Hamilton - Leclerc - Hadjar - Russell - Piastri - Norris - Gasly - Lawson.
Monaco Grand Prix Provisional Qualifying Classification
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