Norris beats Leclerc and Piastri to pole with last-gasp lap in Monaco GP Qualifying thriller

Lando Norris charged to pole position during Saturday afternoon’s Qualifying session for the Monaco Grand Prix, getting the better of home favourite Charles Leclerc and McLaren team mate Oscar Piastri in a dramatic conclusion to the action.

With run plans varying at the end of the Q3 phase, the McLaren drivers managed to extract two laps from their final sets of soft tyres – Norris producing a 1m 09.954s to deny Leclerc, who had briefly held the top spot.

Piastri settled for third, followed by Leclerc’s Ferrari team mate, Lewis Hamilton, who recovered well from his crash in final practice, while Max Verstappen could only go fifth for Red Bull after a tricky Qualifying.

Isack Hadjar was one of the stars of the session to put his Racing Bulls machine sixth, ahead of the similarly impressive Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso, Haas of Esteban Ocon and team mate Liam Lawson, while Williams’ Alex Albon rounded out the top 10.

Carlos Sainz could not quite join team mate Albon in that top 10 after lamenting a lack of grip on the soft tyres during his final Q2 run, leaving him 11th on the grid over another frustrated driver in Yuki Tsunoda, who continues to get to grips with Red Bull’s package.

Kick Sauber made it through to Q2 courtesy of another solid effort from Nico Hulkenberg, who took advantage of a dramatic session for Mercedes drivers George Russell and Kimi Antonelli to line up in 13th position.

Russell lost power and ground to a halt through the tunnel in the second Qualifying phase and thus placed 14th, with rookie team mate Antonelli following in 15th after he crashed out at the Nouvelle Chicane during Q1.

Gabriel Bortoleto narrowly missed the Q2 cut in the other Kick Sauber machine, with Haas racer Ollie Bearman, the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll and Alpine pair Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto also falling at the first hurdle.

Bearman will fall to the back of the grid with his 10-place grid penalty for a red flag breach during Friday practice, while Stroll has a one-place drop thanks to his sanction for an FP1 clash involving Leclerc.

AS IT HAPPENED

Q1 – Leclerc fastest as Antonelli crashes out

After three busy practice sessions, it was time for arguably the most important Qualifying hour of the year, with grid and track position vital around the Principality’s tight, twisty streets – even if the new two-stop rule is tipped to add some “spice” to proceedings.

Could Leclerc stay on top after his practice clean sweep? How would Hamilton get on after mechanics replaced the entire rear-end of his Ferrari – including the gearbox – due to him crashing in FP3? And would the soft C6 tyre compound be more favourable than the medium C5?

As Q1 got under way in pleasant conditions, with grid penalties hanging over Stroll and Bearman, the other key Monaco factor of traffic soon came to the fore – 20 drivers having to squabble for clean air in the early minutes in a bid to get banker laps on the board.

Once every driver had posted a time, it was Verstappen who held the provisional Qualifying benchmark on a 1m 11.920s, ahead of practice pace-setter Leclerc, but a constant flow of push, cool and push laps would see the order change by the minute.

Piastri made the next big move by working his way down to a 1m 11.385s, despite reporting a brush with the wall, before Leclerc clocked a 1m 11.229s and stated his intention to score a fourth pole position in the last five editions of his home event.

Unsurprisingly, a couple of impeding incidents were noted by the stewards, with Gasly criticising the slow-moving Stroll for a “shocking” situation at the Nouvelle Chicane, and Verstappen swearing in response to a close call with Hamilton at Massenet.

Gasly and Alpine were left with the most work to do after their first runs, having been slowest of all as the only team to start the session with medium tyres rather than softs – piling the pressure on for the decisive sequence of laps to the chequered flag.

Those laps would be impacted by a crash for rookie Antonelli at the Nouvelle Chicane, though, with the yellow flags initially coming out and scuppering a handful of laps, before turning into a red flag and ending the opening phase of Qualifying early.

Leclerc thus finished quickest from the McLarens, Verstappen, Russell and team mate Hamilton, with Albon, Alonso, Sainz and Tsunoda also reaching the top 10 on an incredibly close timesheet that saw P1 to P15 covered by just over six-tenths of a second.

With Hadjar, Lawson, Ocon, Hulkenberg and Antonelli the final drivers to squeeze through to Q2, even if the Mercedes man would take no part, it meant Bortoleto agonisingly missed out along with Bearman, the aforementioned Gasly, Stroll and Colapinto.

Knocked out: Bortoleto, Bearman, Gasly, Stroll, Colapinto

Q2 – Norris makes a move, tyre strategies differ

After a short break, drivers queued up at the end of the pit lane once more for the start of Q2, which saw Leclerc, Albon, Hamilton, Sainz and Russell try something different by moving over to the yellow-marked medium compound tyre Alpine had sampled in Q1.

Soft-shod Norris was the early pace-setter on a 1m 10.959s, putting him marginally in front of Verstappen, Leclerc and Albon, but Russell’s hopes of joining them were dashed when he lost power, ground to a halt in the tunnel and triggered another red flag.

With Russell’s car cleared and the session back under way, drivers had around eight minutes to get some more laps in – Albon, Alonso and Sainz pressing on with the mediums, while Ferrari pair Leclerc and Hamilton switched to softs and jumped to the front.

Another mad dash to the flag saw Norris come out on top via a 1m 10.570s, from Leclerc, Albon (who switched to softs late on), Piastri, Verstappen and Hamilton, while both Racing Bulls, Alonso (who stuck with those mediums) and an ecstatic Ocon also progressed.

Like Albon, Sainz took on softs for his final run but could not improve, lamenting that he had “no grip” with the red-marked tyre en route to P11, followed by another disappointed Q2 eliminee in Tsunoda, Hulkenberg and the sidelined Mercedes drivers.

Knocked out: Sainz, Tsunoda, Hulkenberg, Russell, Antonelli

Q3 – Norris tops a breathtaking final phase

So, with 20 cars reduced to 10 via two frenetic Qualifying phases, it all came down to Q3 and the eagerly anticipated fight for pole position – most of the field emerging from the pits on soft tyres, apart from Ocon and Albon on mediums.

Norris picked up where he left off in Q2 by pumping in a 1m 10.464s on his first lap, just over half a tenth clear of Piastri, while Leclerc went third from Verstappen and Hamilton and left his passionate home fans wanting more across the final runs.

Those final runs would deliver another electrifying Monaco Qualifying showcase as Piastri initially went quickest on a 1m 10.140s, before Norris edged ahead via a 1m 10.125s and Leclerc then sent the crowd wild with a 1m 10.063s.

Would that be it front the front-runners? Not quite. Both McLaren drivers geared themselves up for another lap and, with all eyes on the timing screens, Norris brilliantly pulled a 1m 09.954s out of the bag to post the fastest-ever Monte Carlo pole and deny Leclerc.

Piastri’s marginal improvement was not enough for an all-McLaren front row, leaving him third over Hamilton and Verstappen, who could not make an impression on his last lap. Hadjar, Alonso, Ocon, Lawson and Albon completed the Q3 order.

Key quote

“It’s been a long time coming, so I feel good,” said Norris. “I don’t think you realise how good this feels after quite a few struggles over the last couple of months. Especially here in Monaco, it’s a beautiful place and probably the hardest track to do it up against the hometown hero as well. I’m very proud of the whole team – we’ve worked a lot this week, and over the last few months, to get to a day like today.”

What’s next

The 2025 Monaco Grand Prix is set to begin at 1500 local time on Sunday. Head to the RACE HUB to find out how you can catch the action from Monte Carlo.