Max Verstappen says he will not dive into Red Bull’s hospitality swimming pool at Monaco after recalling an incident from last year that put him off the tradition. Verstappen said: "So last year, I saw a guy literally take his socks off, right? And you know sometimes when you have socks, they leave behind the residue, the little blue fluff or whatever? He put his feet in the water, with the fluff on his feet. So if you win, good luck. I will be watching you, but I'm not jumping in the water."

Max Verstappen says Formula 1 starts have been “quite complicated” this season and he is wary of the Ferraris behind him after qualifying on the front row for the Monaco Grand Prix, second to Kimi Antonelli. Verstappen said: "And then tomorrow, let's see... These cars are quite complicated to start, so I have two cars behind me that start quite well, but we'll see."

George Russell said he does not know why he was so far off the pace of Mercedes team-mate and title rival Kimi Antonelli after qualifying sixth for the Monaco Grand Prix, with Antonelli taking pole. Russell said: "I don't really know what's going on to be honest. It's clearly something with my driving that's not helping the car at the moment. But that was there at the start of the year as well. If I look at Melbourne and at least China until I have my issues, it was P1 every single session. The last three races have just been nowhere. So I don't have an answer for that."

Charles Leclerc said he was “very disappointed” to qualify fourth on the grid for his home race, after struggling with his Ferrari’s brakes and describing another difficult weekend following similar problems in Canada. Leclerc said: "I'm very disappointed. It's been an incredibly tough weekend. It has been an incredibly tough two last weekends with quite a lot of issues on my side. I'm pretty confident we'll have a solution for next race. So far it's been very, very tricky. The fact that, on braking, I just don't really know where to brake getting to Q3 after [three practice sessions] makes it very tricky for me."

Lewis Hamilton said his Ferrari felt “drastically different” in qualifying at the Monaco Grand Prix compared with practice, despite the team “barely” changing anything, after taking third on the grid. Hamilton said: "Tough for us, I think we were looking so strong in Practice and we barely changed anything but the car was drastically different once we got to Qualifying for some reason, so we have to take a deep dive into that. I gave it absolutely everything and was as close to the barriers as I could be."












Mercedes race engineer Peter Bonnington said it was clear Kimi Antonelli had “raw talent” almost immediately when the Italian first tested the team’s TPC cars. Peter Bonnington said: "To be fair, it was before he actually started competing in the championship. When we had him in the TPC cars, it was quite evident that he had the talent straight away, you know. You have young drivers come along and it takes them a while to get up to speed. I think it probably took Kimi about four laps to start matching the high speed, and if you can match the high speed, you know that the kid's got some raw talent."

Kimi Antonelli said his Monaco Grand Prix pole-position lap was a "magic lap" after edging Max Verstappen in a close qualifying battle at the Circuit de Monaco. Antonelli said: "It was one of those laps that we call a magic lap, you know? I was able to put it all together, and it was such a close qualifying session with Max. In the first run of Q3, there was just one thousandth between us, but I knew the last lap was good, and I was just hoping it would be enough. But yeah, it was very close, and I'm very happy with that."


Charles Leclerc, Nico Hulkenberg, Alex Albon and Arvid Lindblad have been summoned to the stewards after qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix. Leclerc is to be investigated as “another party” following an allegation of Hulkenberg “driving unnecessarily slowly during the tunnel”, contrary to race director Rui Marques’ pre-event notes, with the hearing set for 17:45 local time. Albon and Lindblad have also been summoned over a pit-lane incident that was not shown on the world feed, and will see the stewards at 18:00.



F1 championship leader Kimi Antonelli snatched Monaco GP pole position away from Max Verstappen as Ferrari's challenge fell short in qualifying






⚪️ Kimi Antonelli: “It was one of those laps that we call a magic lap. I was able to put it all together. It was such a close qualifying with Max. The first run of Q3 there was just one millisecond between us. “But I knew the last lap was good and I was just hoping that it would be enough. It was very close, and I'm very happy with that. Massive thanks to the team because yesterday we struggled a little bit and today we were able to improve massively." 🔵 Max Verstappen: "If you would have told me yesterday to be on the front row, I would have definitely taken it. This morning we had quite some difficulties with the car so heading into qualifying and being up there was extremely positive. So overall, of course, extremely happy with how qualifying went, how all the laps went even though you have to deal with all the traffic - and also the walls. "But I'm happy to be on the front row and then, tomorrow, let's see in the start. I have two cars behind me that start quite well but we'll see." 🔴 Lewis Hamilton: “It was tough for us. We were looking so strong in practice, and we barely changed anything, but the car was drastically different once we got to qualifying for some reason, so we have to take a deep dive into that. “I gave it absolutely everything. I was as close to the barriers as I could be. I think it is definitely very close between us all. I thought we almost maybe nearly had it, and then Max put in a good time and then Kimi. I think it’s great to see how close all the cars are. I think we lost something going into today, and that’s what we need to try to figure out.”
P1) Kimi Antonelli P2) Max Verstappen: +0.043 P3) Lewis Hamilton: +0.228 P4) Charles Leclerc: +0.300 P5) Isack Hadjar: +0.383 P6) George Russell: +0.394 P7) Oscar Piastri: +0.573 P8) Lando Norris: +0.714 P9) Pierre Gasly: +1.175 P10) Liam Lawson: +1.361 Knocked Out (Q2) P11) Alexander Albon P12) Carlos Sainz P13) Nico Hülkenberg P14) Franco Colapinto P15) Arvid Lindblad P16) Gabriel Bortoleto Knocked Out (Q1) P17) Esteban Ocon P18) Sergio Perez P19) Oliver Bearman P20) Valtteri Bottas P21) Fernando Alonso P22) Lance Stroll




A first red flag has been flown during qualifying at the Circuit de Monaco.
🇲🇨 Qualifying



Ferrari and Audi have raised concerns over the proposed change to F1’s 2027 power-unit rules that would shift the current 50/50 split between internal combustion and electric power to 60/40 in favour of the ICE, despite the FIA saying it was “agreed in principle”. During manufacturer meetings over the Monaco Grand Prix weekend, Ferrari’s worries were said to centre on how the Additional Development and Upgrades Opportunities (ADUO) framework would apply, while Audi is reportedly pushing for a slower change – a smaller shift in 2027 before moving fully to 60/40 in 2028 – mainly on cost and feasibility grounds. A formal decision is due at the next PUAC meeting on June 14.

Carlos Sainz says Williams’ response to its disappointing 2026 form has helped him regain faith in the team’s long-term project. Sainz said: "Thanks to the shock of that bump, James and his team put [in place] a very strong action to correct them, to erase them from the system. That made me recover a lot of faith and belief in the project."

Fernando Alonso says the current generation of Formula 1 cars is “probably the worst” he has driven around Monaco. Alonso said: "This is probably the worst generation of cars I ever drove in Monaco."

Oscar Piastri says he does not have any “great ideas” on how to improve his McLaren for Saturday at the Monaco Grand Prix after a difficult Friday in which he was eighth in first practice and seventh in second practice. Piastri said: "Not massively. I think in today's F1, there's never anything you can do to turn the car completely upside down, so we'll try and find something for sure, because we need to. But yeah, I don't have any great ideas."

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur says managing traffic to deliver a proper out lap and a clean push lap will be the key to qualifying at the Monaco Grand Prix. Vasseur said: "I think it will be the key for tomorrow, to be able to do a proper out lap, to arrive in the right window, and to do a clean lap. It will be a challenge and I was not expecting that it would be an easy life."

Aston Martin ambassador and Formula 1 representative Pedro de la Rosa said an unresolved downshift-related problem left the team with a “very, very unpredictable” car for Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll during practice for the Monaco Grand Prix. De la Rosa said: "The reality is that the conditions were difficult and we found a very, very unpredictable car today, although we have done our best in trying to give them the most predictable of the cars, the downshifts. There's still a lot of work to be done tonight. Tomorrow is Saturday, free practice is for improving and understanding the biggest issues, but definitely we need to make a step forward tomorrow."

Charles Leclerc says Ferrari’s simulator has been “working very well” for him and he will keep using it, after team-mate Lewis Hamilton raised doubts about how well it reflects the car’s behaviour on track. Leclerc said: "At the end, I think we all have our preferences. For me, the simulator has been working very well. This is what I've done since arriving in Formula 1. I'm not going to change that because it's been a very powerful tool for me in the past. Also, very often we do changes on the car based on what we try on the simulator back at home, so it's part of the developing process of the car. Yeah, it works for me, so I'll keep going there."

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