Monaco Qualifying Results: What Happened In This Breathtaking Saturday?

Your Sports Illustrated guide to Monaco's qualifying.

Despite warnings of poor weather, we were greeted with yet more sun at the Monaco Grand Prix as the drivers firmly planted their tyres onto the tarmac for their first laps of qualifying.

All eyes were on Ferrari, specifically Charles Leclerc, as he fights for another pole position, but Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso also looked promising throughout practice. While Red Bull shows complete dominance yet again, Mercedes look to be struggling so far with their new upgrades. 

Q1 Results

Williams was the first team to get their cars onto the track, but it was Mercedes that drew focus as Lewis Hamilton and George Russell headed out to warm their cars for flying laps. The former's car ran low with sparks flashing out the back of the W14 as he began his fast lap, a 1:14.4. 

Max Verstappen was quick to top the timesheet with a 1:13.4 ahead of his teammate Sergio Perez, but it was Aston that surprised us with them within a tenth of a second from the Milton Keynes machinery. That was before Perez slammed his RB19 into the wall, causing a red flag and bringing his qualifying to a very early finish. It looked like a horrible hit, with him carrying far too much speed into the corner. 

With the red flags placed back into their holders, Hamilton began again and struggled on older tyres, unable to breach the top 10 racers on the timesheet. Toto Wolff raised his eyebrow at the result. Russell on the other hand managed a solid run with a P6 result, with Hamilton, finally, putting in a lap good enough for P7. Verstappen was fastest in Q1, followed by Tsunoda and then Albon. 

What an exciting start!

Out in Q1

1. Sargeant
2. Magnussen
3. Hulkenberg
4. Guanyu
5. Perez

Q2 Results

Verstappen was the first to put in a flying lap, followed by The Mercedes duo, but with three purple sectors from the Dutch driver, he sits at the top of the timesheet early in Q2. Alonso however, was able to scare the team a little with a purple sector 1, sat almost 2-tenths behind Max. 

With 5 minutes left, Russell was able to put in a purple sector 1, putting him only a couple of tenths behind leader Max. Hamilton didn't have that much luck, sat 3-tenths behind his teammate and complained of a mechanical issue at the rear of the W14. Fortunately for Merc fans, he was able to make his way through into Q3, despite his car being "hard to drive". 

McLaren's Lando Norris slammed into the wall with about 2 minutes to go after damaging his suspension a corner head of the incident, and that spelt the end of his Q2. Fortunately for the Brit, his team managed to fix his car, allowing him to return in Q3. 

Out in Q2

1. Piastri 
2. De Vries
3. Albon
4. Stroll
5. Bottas

Q3 Results

Verstappen was once again the first to drive out onto the track on new rubber, but it was Alonso who was able to quickly knock him off the top of the timesheet by 4-tenths. 

"I'm pushing like an animal," he said down the radio. 

Esteban Ocon put himself in provisional pole, a whole tenth ahead of Verstappen, with just two minutes to go, showing just how much a factor track evolution is at this track, but eyes are on Alonso as he puts in the fastest lap in the last minute of Q3, but it's Max Verstappen who clinches his first Monaco pole. 

"Very lovely," he says modestly. 

Qualifying Full Results

1. Verstappen
2. Alonso 
3. Leclerc
4. Ocon
5. Sainz
6. Hamilton
7. Gasly
8. Russell
9. Tsunoda
10. Norris
11. Piastri
12. De Vries
13. Albon
14. Stroll
15. Bottas
16. Sargeant
17. Magnussen
18. Hulkenberg
19. Guanyu
20. Perez