F1 Monaco GP live commentary and updates – race

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How will Monaco’s new ‘two-stop’ rule play out?

In a new twist for 2025, all drivers must use three sets of tyres in the Monaco GP (for clarification, this does not mean all three compounds). Without safety cars, this would mean that all teams would be required to perform two conventional stops.

In the event of a red flag, changing tyres here would fulfil the brief. And then there’s the effect of safety cars, VSCs…there’s opportunities to get relatively cheap tyre stops here.

So is it worth the early gamble for a backmarker? Probably; if there’s no first-corner pile-up (like we saw in F2 earlier) then they could go for it. But the leaders will remain in lock-step, and it will depend on what Norris does at the start.

Post-qualifying penalties and starting grid

As we said earlier, Lewis Hamilton was given a three-place penalty for impeding Max Verstappen in qualifying, and starts from seventh.

Lance Stroll collected two separate penalties – a one-place drop for causing contact with Charles Leclerc in FP1, and a three-place drop for impeding Gasly in Q1. This moves him from 19th to…well, 19th.

Bearman received a 10-place grid drop for overtaking Sainz under a red flag in FP2, and thus starts last.

Starting grid for the Monaco GP

1

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3

1  –  2
Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Time	Tyres	km/h
1	L. NorrisMcLaren	4		McLaren	Mercedes	1’09.954		171.729
2	C. LeclercFerrari	16		Ferrari	Ferrari	+0.109 1’10.063		171.462
3	O. PiastriMcLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	+0.175 1’10.129		171.301
4	M. VerstappenRed Bull Racing	1		Red Bull	Red Bull	+0.715 1’10.669		169.992
5	I. HadjarRB	6		RB	Honda	+0.969 1’10.923		169.383
6	F. AlonsoAston Martin Racing	14		Aston Martin	Mercedes	+0.970 1’10.924		169.381
7	L. HamiltonFerrari	44		Ferrari	Ferrari	+0.428 1’10.382		170.685
8	E. OconHaas F1 Team	31		Haas	Ferrari	+0.988 1’10.942		169.338
9	L. LawsonRB	30		RB	Honda	+1.175 1’11.129		168.893
10	A. AlbonWilliams	23		Williams	Mercedes	+1.259 1’11.213		168.693
11	C. SainzWilliams	55		Williams	Mercedes	+1.408 1’11.362		168.341
12	Y. TsunodaRed Bull Racing	22		Red Bull	Red Bull	+1.461 1’11.415		168.216
13	N. HulkenbergSauber	27		Sauber	Ferrari	+1.642 1’11.596		167.791
14	G. RussellMercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes
15	A. AntonelliMercedes	12		Mercedes	Mercedes
16	G. BortoletoSauber	5		Sauber	Ferrari	+1.948 1’11.902		167.077
17	P. GaslyAlpine	10		Alpine	Renault	+2.040 1’11.994		166.863
18	F. ColapintoAlpine	43		Alpine	Renault	+2.643 1’12.597		165.477
19	L. StrollAston Martin Racing	18		Aston Martin	Mercedes	+2.609 1’12.563		165.555
20	O. BearmanHaas F1 Team	87		Haas	Ferrari	+2.025 1’11.979		166.898
View full results

GPS analysis: Norris’ pole lap

How did Norris overturn Leclerc’s margin at the final moment? We’ve taken a look at the data across his lap.

Monaco GP qualifying recap

Q1: Charles Leclerc was quickest in the opening session, which ended earlier than expected when Andrea Kimi Antonelli put his Mercedes into the wall at the Nouvelle Chicane.

Bortoleto was denied a Q2 appearance at the last minute by Hadjar, as Bearman (encumbered with a 10-place penalty), Gasly, Stroll, and Colapinto went out.

Q2: Both Mercedes drivers took an early bath as George Russell’s electrics packed up and the Briton came to a stop in the tunnel.

This left three relegation spots, which was occupied by Sainz (who was unable to improve late on softs), Tsunoda (in the old-spec Red Bull) and Hulkenberg. Norris headed the session over Leclerc by 0.011s.

Q3: Lando Norris struck at the death of the session to snatch pole from Leclerc by 0.109s. The two McLarens chose to double-stint their second set of soft tyres at the end of the session, and thus went out early.

Norris set a 1m10.125s benchmark, but Leclerc followed this up with a 1m10.063s to take provisional pole. After a cooldown lap, Norris went again – breaking the track record to do a 1m09.954s.

Piastri placed third on the grid, while Verstappen moved up to fourth when Hamilton was penalised post-session for impeding the Dutchman.

F1 Monaco Grand Prix at 2pm BST/3pm local

Hello everyone, and thanks for joining us – in just over an hour’s time, Monaco will roar into life as 20 F1 cars get the lights-out and pounce out of their grid boxes.

And there should be a lot to unpick as we go along – sans safety cars, everyone will have to do two stops, so expect some wild strategies from those towards the back. We’re excited, and we hope you are too!