Lando Norris came through a tense four-way fight for pole position in Monaco, grabbing the coveted grid slot ahead of local favourite Charles Leclerc.

He will line up P1 in Sunday’s mandatory two-stopper having clocked a 1:09.954 to beat Leclerc by a tenth of a second with Oscar Piastri P3. Mercedes suffered the disappointment of a double Q2 elimination with Kimi Antonelli crashing before George Russell’s W16 suffered an electrical issue.

Kimi Antonelli brings out a late red in Q1

Ahead of a Q1 session in which a red flag wouldn’t be a surprise, the drivers queued at the end of the Monaco pit lane with the Williams of Alex Albon in P1.

Lewis Hamilton took up a position in the queue, Ferrari having repaired his SF-25, which he crashed in final practice. They fitted a new nose, front wing, and right front suspension as well as an entire rear end, including both rear suspensions and the gearbox.

Max Verstappen, and the McLarens sat in their respective garages as their rivals played in the traffic. Liam Lawson was P1 with a 1:12.9 ahead of Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc when Verstappen and the McLarens joined the fray.

As the track ramped up, Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, Leclerc and then Verstappen went quickest. Continuing to lay down the laps, the quartet traded positions with Leclerc P1 with three minutes remaining.

Pierre Gasly had an all-too-close encounter with a dawdling Lance Stroll and had to take evasive action. “Oy my gosh, who was that? Shocking from Stroll,” Gasly exclaimed. Stroll told Aston Martin: “I thought Leclerc was Gasly, man, I couldn’t see the difference with the sun.”

Hamilton was also noted by the stewards for impeding Verstappen. “Beep Lewis! Massive impeding that!” said Verstappen.

Fernando Alonso put in a last-gasp effort to get out of the drop zone, but he was the last as Kimi Antonelli binned his Mercedes W16 and brought out the red flags.

The drivers eliminated: Gabriel Bortoleto, Oliver Bearman, Pierre Gasly, Lance Stroll and Franco Colapinto

F1 2025: The season’s winners and losers

👉 The results of the F1 2025 championship

👉 The updated Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship standings

Double disappointment for Mercedes with Russell’s Q2 exit

Only 14 drivers took to the track for Q2, Antonelli out after his earlier crash, with Nico Hulkenberg posting the opening benchmark but it was a slow 1:22.4. Leclerc, on the medium tyres, easily beat that but was soon down in third as he trailed Norris and Verstappen.

The red flags were out 10 minutes into the session as George Russell ground to a halt in the tunnel, reporting: “I lost power!” It was double disappointment for Mercedes as he was told “game over”. The marshals relayed Russell’s stricken Mercedes out of the tunnel to the nearest exit point.

Back underway, Leclerc hit the front with Hamilton up to second before Norris pipped them both to top Q2 by a hundredth of a second over Leclerc.

Hadjar put in a late effort to get out of the drop zone and irked Tsunoda in the process: “Hadjar! It’s so unfair honest, I knew it was going to happen like this. I knew it!”

The drivers eliminated: Carlos Sainz, Yuki Tsunoda, Nico Hulkenberg, George Russell, Kimi Antonelli

Lando Norris beats Charles Leclerc to pole

Heading out for Q3, the top ten went for the soft tyres except Albon and Esteban Ocon. The McLarens went 1-2 in the early running, Norris 0.06s up on Piastri, with Leclerc only third despite setting the pace in practice. Verstappen was fourth after his opening gambit.

McLaren went out early for their second attempt at pole, the team-mates trading purple sector times with Norris crossing the line 0.025s faster to sit on provisional pole. Leclerc was up on the McLaren team-mates through his middle sector and crossed the line with a 1:10.063. The McLarens still had one more lap…

Piastri wasn’t able to improve his time but Norris did, breaking the hearts of the Monaco fans with a 1:09.954 to snatch pole position by a tenth of a second off Leclerc.

Piastri will line up third ahead of Hamilton, Verstappen, Hadjar, Alonso, Ocon, Liam Lawson and Albon. His P9 marked Lawson’s first Q3 appearance of the F1 2025 season.

Monaco GP FP3 times

1 Lando Norris McLaren 1:09.954
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.109
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren +0.175
4 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +0.428
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +0.715
6 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls +0.969
7 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +0.970
8 Esteban Ocon Haas F1 Team +0.988
9 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +1.175
10 Alexander Albon Williams +1.259
11 Carlos Sainz Williams 1:11.362
12 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull Racing 1:11.415
13 Nico Hulkenberg Kick Sauber 1:11.596
14 George Russell Mercedes no time
15 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes no time
16 Gabriel Bortoleto Kick Sauber 1:11.902
17 Oliver Bearman Haas F1 Team 1:11.979
18 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:11.994
19 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:12.563
20 Franco Colapinto Alpine 1:12.597

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