Kimi Antonelli wins an important qualifying session in Monaco from two champions to take the top grid spot at Formula 1’s most glamorous street circuit.
The championship leader driver set a lap time of one minute, 12.375 seconds, which was just 0.043 seconds quicker than Verstappen for his fourth pole in five Grands Prix while Ferrari struggled.
That was despite the Scuderia dominating Friday practice with a 1-2 result, but Saturday saw Mercedes recovering as Antonelli topped FP3.
Antonelli then took provisional pole with a time of one minute, 12.375 seconds on his first Q3 lap, putting him just 0.001 seconds ahead of Verstappen who had Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton 0.177 seconds behind in third.
Under pressure was Hamilton’s teammate Charles Leclerc, who aborted his opening lap after almost hitting the barriers at Massenet, so he quickly came out for a second lap.
The Ferrari driver backed off on that one too, so Leclerc went for a third push lap, where there was minimal traffic, and he managed to beat Antonelli’s initial time by only 0.024 seconds.
That was with one minute remaining though, as other were not finished and first to jump ahead was Verstappen with one minute, 12.094 seconds, just before Hamilton went 0.185 seconds slower.
Then came Antonelli with a time of one minute, 12.051 seconds to snatch pole from Verstappen and Hamilton, who will share the second row alongside Leclerc who hit the barriers in the final sector at the end.
Fifth went to Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Isack Hadjar with one minute, 12.434 seconds, while it was another disappointing result for Antonelli’s teammate George Russell in sixth.
The Mercedes driver was 0.394 seconds off the pace ahead of an all-McLaren fourth row with Oscar Piastri seventh and Lando Norris eighth, while ninth went to Pierre Gasly and Liam Lawson took tenth.
It was a close battle to reach Q3 as just two thousandths of a second separated Gasly in P11 and Alex Albon P12, who will share the sixth row with Williams teammate Carlos Sainz.
That marked only the second time that Williams had both cars reach Q2 this season after Miami, the second qualifying session in Miami also being topped by Verstappen.
In Monaco P13 went to Audi driver Nico Hulkenberg, who is set to be joined on the seventh row by Gasly’s teammate Franco Colapinto, while Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad took P15.
Although Gabriel Bortoleto progressed to Q2, he was unable to set a lap in the second appearance so he has claimed P16 for the grid following his crash at Nouvelle Chicane late in Q1.
The Audi driver was having a strong weekend up to then, but he clipped the inside barrier upon entry and caused a red flag with approximately two minutes left in the session.
That caused a chaotic end to Q1, topped by Leclerc, where Sainz managed to move his Williams out of the elimination zone and push Esteban Ocon into P17.
That was part of a shock double Q1 exit for Haas with Oliver Bearman in P19, but outside of that the usual suspects were eliminated early with Cadillac’s Sergio Perez splitting the Haas cars.
In P20 was his teammate Valtteri Bottas ahead of an all Aston Martin back row with Fernando Alonso in P21 and Lance Stroll taking P22.
So a thrilling end to qualifying with the Mercedes driver beating two legendary drivers to get pole position at Monaco. As overtaking is so tricky around this tight street circuit, winning pole is a major step in securing race victory.
Monaco Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:12.051
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford 1:12.094
3 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:12.279
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:12.351
5 Isack Hadjar Red Bull-Ford 1:12.434
6 George Russell Mercedes 1:12.445
7 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 1:12.624
8 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1:12.765
9 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes 1:13.226
10 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Ford 1:13.412
11 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes 1:13.787
12 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes 1:13.815
13 Nico Hulkenberg Audi 1:13.902
14 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes 1:13.995
15 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford 1:14.248
16 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi No time
17 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari 1:14.722
18 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari 1:14.747
19 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari 1:14.814
20 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari 1:15.283
21 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda 1:15.349
22 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda 1:16.061