F1 GP Monaco 2026, Qualifying: Verstappen shows his claws in Q2, then Antonelli. Leclerc 4° – LIVE

F1 Monte Carlo, race hub: all useful links

To best follow the live broadcast of the F1 Monaco GP qualifying, here are all the useful links for the race weekend in Monte Carlo, the sixth round of the 2026 World Championship:

Read more Hungarian GP 2026, Sprint: Marquez’s solo, Acosta and Bezzecchi on the podium

• TV schedule – The weekend program
• Weather – What’s the weather like in Monte Carlo
• Preview – The themes of the weekend
• LIVE – The session report
• Results – The session standings
• Last year – How it went in 2025
• Calendar – All F1 2026 stages
• Drivers’ Standings – After Montreal
• Constructors’ Standings – After Montreal

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F1, live report of the Monaco GP Qualifying

17.01 – Everyone in the pits, so here are the standings after the first attempt of this Q3:

16.59 – Provisional pole position for Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who takes the lead in 1:12.375, with just one thousandth of a second advantage over Max Verstappen! Hamilton is third with a 178 thousandths gap, while Norris slips to fourth place. Leclerc is missing, having oversteered at Massenet risking putting the SF-26 against the wall: the Monegasque has returned to the pits to change tires and refuel, so he will only have one attempt.

16.58 – Oscar Piastri makes a couple of slides in the last sector and is therefore beaten by teammate Lando Norris in 1:12.765. But let’s wait for the others…

16.56 – Piastri is not immediately pushing at the end of the first flying lap, while Norris is a bit more aggressive. In any case, the impression is that the time, with these tires, will be set on the second attempt.

16.54 – Green light and Q3 begins! Piastri and Norris are immediately on track, followed by the two Ferraris and Lawson. Then Russell, Antonelli and Gasly.

16.53 – Q3, as always, will last 12 minutes and will give us the name of the poleman, as well as the starting order of the top ten drivers on the grid.

16.51 – We will have two Red Bulls, two Mercedes, two Ferraris, two McLarens, Lawson’s Racing Bulls and Gasly’s Alpine on track in Q3. Who will take the most important pole position of the year?

16.50 – So, at this point, also pay attention to the two Red Bulls, which close the penultimate qualifying session with Verstappen’s best time and Hadjar’s third best time. Antonelli confirms his form, while George Russell is only eighth, with a half-second gap from his teammate.

16.49 – The final standings of the second elimination session of these qualifiers:

16.48 – The last lap closes and Pierre Gasly saves himself with the tenth fastest time! Excluded are Alex Albon, Carlos Sainz, Nico Hulkenberg, Franco Colapinto, Arvid Lindblad and Gabriel Bortoleto.

16.47 – Chequered flag! Q2 ends here and now we wait for everyone to complete their final attempt.

16.46 – Watch out for Max Verstappen, who might be showing his hand! 1:12.499 and best lap of the weekend!

16.45 – New tires for almost everyone now in these last few minutes. Approximately 120 seconds until the chequered flag, then more verdicts from the stopwatch.

16.43 – Four minutes to go and for the moment the excluded drivers are Sainz, Albon, Gasly, Lindblad, Colapinto and, obviously, Bortoleto.

16.42 – Antonelli also improves and doesn’t budge, except that his position is first and his time is the fastest of the session, just to say: 1:12.704 for the Italian Mercedes driver, who is now followed by Charles Leclerc at 70 thousandths.

16.41 – Russell improves but the Briton remains stuck in eighth place, also behind Isack Hadjar’s Red Bull, as well as all the other cars of the top team drivers.

16.39 – A good move for Max Verstappen, who takes the second best time with only 62 thousandths of a second gap from his friend Antonelli. Russell, on the other hand, is struggling a bit, eighth at 9 tenths from his teammate’s time!

16.38 – Antonelli, however, replicates the time set in FP3 and goes for 1:12.778. Norris and Leclerc pay a tenth and a half, with Hamilton fifth behind Piastri, at three tenths.

16.37 – McLaren is back in front, looking completely different from what we saw in free practice: 1:12.919 for Lando Norris, who precedes Leclerc and teammate Piastri.

16.36 – Verstappen is the first to have gone out (after two tire warm-up laps) and therefore also the first to set a significant time: 1:13.205 for the four-time world champion.

16.34 – Obviously we already have the name of the first eliminated driver: Gabriel Bortoleto was left without a car after the accident at the Port Chicane and therefore will not be able to participate in Q2 and will be 16th on the grid (barring penalties for his colleagues).

16.33 – The first to go for a fast lap is Gasly, followed by teammate Colapinto. But all the big names are already on track, with Verstappen being the first to complete his attempt. New Soft tires for everyone, with the exception of Hulkenberg who has used softs.

16.32 – Green light and Q2 begins! The 15 minutes that will give us the names of the 10 drivers who will fight for pole position in Q3 are underway.

16.29 – At least it’s clear at the end of the first elimination session which are the three worst cars on a single lap in Monaco: excluded are the two Haas, the two Cadillacs and the two Aston Martins, completing a very painful front row in front of team principal Adrian Newey who this weekend has returned to the track after not being seen since the last Australian GP three months ago.

16.27 – The final standings of Q1:

16.25 – A good move for Carlos Sainz, who takes tenth place and gets into Q2! Excluded are Esteban Ocon, Sergio Perez, Oliver Bearman, Valtteri Bottas, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.

16.24 – Chequered flag! Q1 ends here and now we wait for everyone to complete their final attempt.

16.23 – Liam Lawson has stopped in the pit lane, unable to restart perhaps due to a technical problem: his mechanics are pushing him back to the garage. Meanwhile, the top six in the standings and Russell, as well as Lawson and Bortoleto (obviously), are in the pits. Piastri is the only one of the big names who chose to return to the track, but with used Soft tires.

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16.22 – Green light and we’re off again! The last two minutes of Q1 begin with Perez and Bottas being the first to exit the pits, followed by Gasly, Bearman and Ocon.

16.20 – While we’re at it: here are the standings after the first red flag in the 2026 Monaco GP qualifying:

16.19 – We will restart at 16.22, so in three minutes, but we already have three or four cars queued up in front of the pit lane exit.

16.18 – It’s unlikely anyone will really be able to improve: there will be 2 minutes, but it will be difficult to warm up the tires before the chequered flag.

16.16 – Red flag! Error for Gabriel Bortoleto, who broke his front suspension by hitting the wall inside the Port Chicane. Nothing truly serious because the impact was at low speed, but for the Brazilian, currently 14th, qualifying ends here.

16.15 – Antonelli has a warning, a black and white flag for not following the race direction’s instructions: should he commit the same error again (but we cannot tell you what it is) a penalty will follow.

16.14 – Four minutes to go, and for the moment the excluded drivers are Fernando Alonso, Alex Albon, Pierre Gasly, Sergio Perez, Lance Stroll and Valtteri Bottas.

16.13 – It seems Leclerc has entered “Monte Carlo mode”, because with each flying lap he shaves off a little from the previous time, still managing to improve. 1:13.293 for Charles, who now has a 2-tenth advantage over Verstappen and 3 over Antonelli. Five minutes until the chequered flag for Q1.

16.12 – Antonelli is fourth behind Hamilton, but made a small mistake on his last lap, probably kissing the barriers with his right rear at the Tabac corner.

16.10 – Among the big names, George Russell is currently the one struggling the most; he improves but is only tenth. Lewis Hamilton improves and climbs to third place, with a 4-tenth gap from his teammate.

16.09 – Charles Leclerc goes out again and manages to get back in front of everyone, already with a time close to Antonelli’s morning time (which was already 1:12.7): 1:13.399 for the Monegasque.

16.08 – Max Verstappen takes fifth fastest time, while Lando Norris goes to the top in 1:13.376.

16.07 – Antonelli takes third place, while Russell doesn’t go beyond 14th, the result of an evidently not good lap. Verstappen is now also out: so far, all the big names are warming up their tires for two consecutive laps, without pushing immediately.

16.05 – Charles Leclerc takes the provisional best performance in 1:14.141, with 1 and a half tenths over Norris and two tenths over Lewis Hamilton. Times are still high, but a good start.

16.04 – The fastest drivers at the moment are the two Cadillac drivers, but the times are very high compared to the limits already seen in the free practice sessions: 1:16.743 for Checo Perez who gives 4 tenths to teammate Bottas.

16.02 – New Soft tires for everyone, of course. We already have 21 cars on track, with only Max Verstappen being a bit… unsociable and not joining the party.

16.01 – There’s already quite a bit of traffic on track, but the big names are waiting for now. Russell and Verstappen are still in the pits, while Leclerc, Hamilton and Antonelli are among the last to go out for their first attempt.

16.00 – Green light and the first qualifying session of the Monaco GP weekend begins! In 18 minutes we will have the first verdicts.

15.57 – In the meantime, how about a nice on-board lap with Lewis Hamilton?

15.55 – Five minutes until the start of the first elimination session, which will last 18 minutes and will give us the names of the first 6 drivers eliminated today. It should be a relatively easy session for the top team drivers, but watch out for possible pitfalls, as the walls are democratically equal for everyone (regardless of how performing the car is). Also pay special attention to the heavy traffic, with 22 cars trying to find the necessary space for a fast lap and make the cut.

15.52 – Obviously, the most anticipated of all is Charles Leclerc, who has already collected three pole positions here, despite only managing to win on one occasion, in 2024. However, also pay special attention to Lewis Hamilton, who showed particularly good form in the free practice sessions, and especially to Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who was very fast in FP3. Are these three the favorites for pole position, or would you bet on another of the remaining 19 drivers on the grid?

15.48 – Let’s restart with the analysis of the weather conditions, which are confirmed to be practically perfect for the period and for a nice dry qualifying session in the Principality: 24 degrees air temperature, 46 degrees track temperature, illuminated and warmed by a beautiful late spring sun.

15.45 – Good Saturday afternoon to all of you, dear FormulaPassionates! We are live to tell you about the Monaco GP qualifying, usually the most beautiful and spectacular of the year. Are you charged up? Ready to follow them with us? 15 minutes and we start with the 18 minutes of Q1.

F1 Monaco GP, live qualifying

Good afternoon to all of you, dear readers of FormulaPassion.it. We are live to tell you about the qualifying session of the F1 Monaco GP weekend, which will start at 4:00 PM Italian time and will end approximately an hour later, red flags and interruptions permitting. And it will be worth getting comfortable on the sofa (or wherever you are) because what is about to begin is the most important and decisive official practice session of the entire season, as well as certainly the most spectacular and beautiful to watch, considering the way drivers usually drive at 300 km/h between manholes and walls to push the limits of their respective cars, in a battle against time that is also and above all a battle against the laws of physics (and perhaps also common sense).

In this morning’s Free Practice 3, the fastest, surprisingly, was Andrea Kimi Antonelli, demonstrating that Mercedes has somewhat sorted itself out, managing to beat Ferrari’s competition, with a three-tenth advantage over Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton. Will these be the power dynamics? Who will achieve the most prestigious and coveted pole position of the season? Find out with us, following and commenting live minute by minute the 2026 F1 Monaco GP qualifying.

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