As it happened: 2025 Monaco Grand Prix qualifying

This session has finished. No further updates will be posted.

That concludes our coverage of qualifying. Find the grid here and the report on an exciting session here.

Verstappen stays fifth but a mega lap from Norris denies Leclerc his fourth pole position at home.

Hamilton goes third but Leclerc’s on a quick one – he takes pole position! But Verstappen is still to come and so is Norris.

Piastri takes pole with his final run – but Norris takes it back off him! Now it’s down to the Ferraris and Verstappen.

Verstappen goes fourth with his first run, two tenths of a second off Piastri.

Leclerc goes third, within two tenths of a second of the McLarens. Verstappen is only now starting his out-lap.

A 1’10.531 for Piastri, which Norris beats by six hundredths of a second. Hamilton is third on used tyres.

Q3 has begun: Albon leads out Ocon, Alonso, Piastri, Norris, Hamilton, Leclerc and Hadjar – all on softs except for the first two on mediums. Verstappen and Lawson holding back for now.

Tsunoda is out too!

Hadjar goes sixth, Albon takes a remarkable third, Sainz it out though!

Tsunoda may be in trouble looking at the first sector times, both Racing Bulls are quicker than him.

Alonso sounds a lot happier than last week as he pits having set the seventh-fastest time. Hadjar begins his effort to reach Q3.

A fully committed lap from Verstappen moves him to third, three-tenths off Norris.

Tsunoda gets in by three-thousandths of a second ahead of Hadjar, who is still in the pits with four minutes left.

Norris narrowly nicks the top time off Leclerc, just a hundredth of a second in it.

Tsunoda has fallen to last of the remaining runners and is on his out-lap now.

Sainz, though, is persisting with his mediums and goes seventh.

Ferrari are back on softs and back on top, Leclerc leading Hamilton.

The session will restart at 4:44pm local time, cars begin leaving their garages to queue up.

Russell and Antonelli will be eliminated in Q2, then, just three more to go.

Mercedes suspect an electrical problem on Russell’s car. They say he lost power after hitting a bump at the exit of Sainte Devote.

Russell has come to a step in the tunnel, it’s a disastrous session for Mercedes. Red flag.

Q2 is go with just 14 cars running. Leclerc immediately puts up a 1’11.314 on mediums to head the times. Norris beats that with a 1’10.959 on softs.

Bortoleto was just pipped at the end and is eliminated. Oliver Bearman, Pierre Gasly, Lance Stroll and Franco Colapinto are out too.

Bortoleto jumps up from 18th to 15th and there’s a yellow flag at the chicane which is going to spoil laps for several drivers. Antonelli has crashed, he’s alright, but he’s out.

Not a great first sector for Hamilton as he bids to claim a place in Q2. He’s fastest of all in the middle sector, though, and crosses the line with a 1’11.575 for fourth.

Currently in the drop zone: Gabriel Bortoleto, Fernando Alonso, Oliver Bearman, Lance Stroll and Franco Colapinto.

Verstappen, Norris and Piastri taking nothing for granted, all taking fresh tyres.

Piastri lowers the best to a 1’11.385.

“Shocking from Stroll.” Gasly is furious about being held up by the Aston Martin at the chicane. The stewards are investigating that.

Norris puts up the quickest time so far with a 1’11.596 which puts him 0.324s ahead of Verstappen.

Verstappen looked strong in final practice and he goes to the top now by 0.171s.

The Ferraris go top, Leclerc on a 1’12.091, Hamilton 0.245s off.

Lando Norris goes top by just a hundredth of a second from Lance Stroll. Oscar Piastri beats it comfortably by four tenths of a second. Albon then splits them. Just Russell and Verstappen yet to set times.

No great surprise as Charles Leclerc’s first lap puts him on top, he’s spent a lot of time there this weekend. But Liam Lawson, who’s had a very strong weekend so far, beats his time by a tenth of a second.

Nico Hulkenberg puts in a 1’13.354, then Alexander Albon beats that time by two tenths of a second.

The Alpine drivers are the only ones on medium rubber so far.

Williams lead the field out on softs, followed by Haas on softs. Pierre Gasly is on a set of mediums.

Drivers are lining up for the start of the session. Soft tyres for the Aston Martins and Ferraris.

We had two crashes in Q1 at the last race – Colapinto and Tsunoda – and it could be even harder for drivers to keep it out of the barriers here.

Two drivers already have penalties for tomorrow’s races. Stroll has a one-place grid drop and Bearman 10. However the stewards cleared Sainz and Colapinto after investigating whether they overtook under red flags during final practice.

Hamilton is touring his Ferrari garage, personally thanking the various mechanics who put his car back together.

Ferrari say they’ve changed the nose, front wing and right-front suspension on Hamilton’s car, plus the entire rear end, including left and right-hand suspension and the gearbox. This takes last time than replacing the damaged right-rear suspension parts. He should therefore be good to go for qualifying.

It wasn’t all good news for Ferrari in final practice as Lewis Hamilton crashed heavily in the closing minutes. The team have a repair job to do on his car, but the damage did not look severe enough to put his participation in qualifying in doubt.

That was the case at Imola too. If you run the medium in qualifying you deplete your stock for the race. At Imola that was potentially a disadvantage, as Aston Martin’s experience showed. But in Monaco, where track position is vital, it may matter less. Hanging over all that is the additional complication caused by the new rule which will force drivers to use three tyre sets in the grand prix. However it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a lot of medium tyres appear in qualifying.

However big question marks hang over exactly what will be the best strategy for qualifying in Monaco. Some drivers managed to get faster lap times out of the medium rubber than the softs in final practice.

Charles Leclerc has taken pole position for three of the last four Monaco grands prix and appears to have a great chance of producing another as he has been fastest throughout all three practice sessions.

Qualifying for the 2025 Monaco Grand Prix is coming up next.

2025 Monaco Grand Prix

• Norris predicts his Monaco pole record should stand “for a very long time”
• Bearman is right: Formula 1 should let Monaco be Monaco
• Wurz’s proposed Monaco track changes would make ‘1 to 5%’ difference – Sainz
• Bortoleto claims his “put him in the wall” radio message was taken out of context
• I deserved penalty, deliberate rule breaking ‘should never be allowed’ – Russell