It was a Ferrari 1-3 in qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix as Charles LeClerc, who led much of this weekends practice sessions, stormed to an absolute barnburner of a lap for his third pole at home and his first in 2024, breaking Max Verstappen’s perfect record in 2024 in the process. Oscar Piastri narrowly missed out on the top spot with his “Senna” colored McLaren to start second as he split the Ferrari duo in his best effort to secure his first career pole.
Teammate Lando Norris will start fourth alongside the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz in third as the ever popular duo reunite on the second row of the grid. Continuing his streak of teammate beating, George Russell took his Mercedes to 5th on the grid ahead of the Red Bull of Max Verstappen as the Red Bull continued its struggled in the Principality.
Qualifying Highlights: 2024 Monaco Grand Prix
Q1 Results:
The shock surprise of Q1 saw Sergio Perez out in 18th as the Red Bull driver was unable to make up any pace on his rivals. With traffic and a poor handling car, Perez managed to only outpace the pare of Kick Sauber drivers. Fernando Alonso, initially strong, was also a surprise as he only managed 16th quickest in the very busy practice session.
Near the front of the grid, it was George Russell and Oscar Piastri trading for the top spot ad neither Ferrari seemed to be terribly close to the quickest car as they had been in prior practice sessions, but both would make it through to Q2.
Drivers out in Q1:
- 16th: Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
- 17th: Logan Sargeant (Williams)
- 18th: Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
- 19th: Valtteri Bottas (Kick Sauber)
- 20th: Zhou Guanyu (Kick Sauber)
Q2 Results:
Drivers began to break into the 1:10s lap time mark as conditions on track continued to improve. The Alpine duo of Gasly and Ocon showed excellent pace and put both cars into Q3, until a lap from Alex Albon pushed Ocon out and into 11th on the grid.
Lando Norris, Max Verstappen, and Oscar Piastri all cemeted themselves on top for what appears to spell trouble for Ferrari, as LeClerc and Sainz could only manage 4th and 6th at the end of the sesson.
Drivers out in Q2:
- 11th: Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
- 12th: Nico Hulkenberg (Haas)
- 13th: Daniel Ricciardo (RB)
- 14th: Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
- 15th: Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
Q3 Results:
The final 10 cars jumped on track for the first run of Q3 that saw LeClerc lay down a blisteringly quick lap in the 1:10.4s times as Oscar Piastri became the local hero’s closest competition. As lap times dropped in, it was clear this was going to be a Ferrari/McLaren fight for pole as Verstappen was unable to make up pace in sectors 2 and 3 due to significant bouncing in his Red Bull.
In the closing minutes, drivers went back out with fresh soft tires for their final run as LeClerc improved his time to set a lap over 1 second faster than Max Verstappen’s 2023 pole time as Oscar Piasti, Carlos Sainz, and Lanodo Norris fell in behind the Monegasque driver. George Russel outqualified teammate Lewis Hamilton once again as Max Verstappen split the Mercedes pair for 6th on the grid. Yuki Tsunoda, in yet another strong Q3 session, would start 8th for Sunday, and Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly would end their session 9th and 10th respectively in what would be their strongest qualifying of the year.
The 2024 edition of the Monaco Grand Prix goes green at 15:00 local time on Sunday, May 26th. You’re not going to want to miss this one as Charles LeClerc looks to finally break the hometown curse that has plagued him.
Free Practice One Report: CLICK HERE
Free Practice Two Report: CLICK HERE
Free Practice Three Report: CLICK HERE
FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX DE MONACO 2024 Schedule
| Date | Session | Time (Local Circuit) |
| May 24th | Practice 1 | 13:30 – 14:30 |
| Practice 2 | 17:00 – 18:00 | |
| May 25th | Practice 3 | 12:30 – 13:30 |
| Qualifying | 16:00 – 17:00 | |
| May 26th | Race | 15:00 |
Qualifying Results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | CAR | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
| 1 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | FERRARI | 1:11.584 | 1:10.825 | 1:10.270 |
| 2 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 1:11.500 | 1:10.756 | 1:10.424 |
| 3 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | FERRARI | 1:11.543 | 1:11.075 | 1:10.518 |
| 4 | 4 | Lando Norris | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 1:11.760 | 1:10.732 | 1:10.542 |
| 5 | 63 | George Russell | MERCEDES | 1:11.492 | 1:10.929 | 1:10.543 |
| 6 | 1 | Max Verstappen | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | 1:11.711 | 1:10.745 | 1:10.567 |
| 7 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | MERCEDES | 1:11.528 | 1:11.056 | 1:10.621 |
| 8 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB HONDA RBPT | 1:11.852 | 1:11.106 | 1:10.858 |
| 9 | 23 | Alexander Albon | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 1:11.623 | 1:11.216 | 1:10.948 |
| 10 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | ALPINE RENAULT | 1:11.714 | 1:10.896 | 1:11.311 |
| 11 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | ALPINE RENAULT | 1:11.887 | 1:11.285 | |
| 12 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | HAAS FERRARI | 1:11.876 | 1:11.440 | |
| 13 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB HONDA RBPT | 1:11.785 | 1:11.482 | |
| 14 | 18 | Lance Stroll | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 1:11.728 | 1:11.563 | |
| 15 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | HAAS FERRARI | 1:11.832 | 1:11.725 | |
| 16 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 1:12.019 | ||
| 17 | 2 | Logan Sargeant | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 1:12.020 | ||
| 18 | 11 | Sergio Perez | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | 1:12.060 | ||
| 19 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | KICK SAUBER FERRARI | 1:12.512 | ||
| 20 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | KICK SAUBER FERRARI | 1:13.028 |
