Monaco Grand Prix 2026
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Hear from the Team after Qualifying
2 min
Hear from the Team after Qualifying in Monaco
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Max magic seals Monaco front row with Isack in fifth
Max Verstappen came agonisingly close to a second career Monaco pole, missing out to Kimi Antonelli by just four hundredths of a second at the end of a thrilling qualifying session in the Principality, that saw Isack Hadjar claim fifth place on the grid.
The Bulls ramped up the pace throughout the one-hour session and at the start of Q3, Max’s opening run left him behind provisional pole-sitter Antonelli by the slimmest margin possible - 0.001s.
It set up a titanic battle for top spot in the final runs and, on track ahead of the Mercedes, Max went for broke, powering through two purple sectors to move ahead of the Italian with a lap of 1:12.094, a little under three tenths up on his opener. Antonelli couldn’t match the Dutchman’s pace across the first sector, but with personal bests across all three sectors, the Italian squeezed through to pole position by 0.043s.
“If you would have told me yesterday we would. be on the front row, I would have definitely taken it,” Max said afterwards. “And also, this morning I think we had quite some difficulties with the car, so heading into qualifying and being up there I think was extremely positive. Overall, of course, very happy with how qualifying went, how all the laps went, even though you have to deal with all the traffic and of course the walls. But yeah, I’m happy to be on the front row and then tomorrow let’s see in the start.”
It was a strong performance from Isack too. The Frenchman’s start to the session was marred by less-than-pleasing build laps but once he worked temperature into his tyres he cranked up the pace. A best lap of 1m14.4s in Q1 was chopped to 1m13.2s in his opening Q2 run and he took another four tenths out of that to ease through to Q3 in third place with a lap of 1:12.722.
And in the top-10 shoot-out he improved yet again, working his way down to a session-best time of 1:12.434 to claim the front of row three for tomorrow’s race, eight hundredths of a second behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and a hundredth clear of Mercedes’ George Russell.
03
Smash and P3 grab Friday for the Bulls in Monaco
Max Verstappen staked an early claim for major points in Monaco by ending Friday’s practice sessions third on the timesheets, just 0.168 seconds off FP2 pace-setter Lewis Hamilton.
It was a tougher opening day in Monte Carlo for Isack Hadjar. Although he crashed out of the opening session, swift work by the garage crew gave the French driver the chance to fight back towards the top of the order in FP2, and he finished the day a useful P6.
A relatively smooth day for Max began with an FP1 best time of 1:14.491, which left him third on the timesheets, though half a second off early pace-setter Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari. The four-time champion set about narrowing that gap in the afternoon, and when he bolted on a set of C5 Soft-compound Pirellis midway through FP2, Max worked his way to a best time of 1:13.194, putting himself in a strong position ahead of FP3 and tomorrow’s all-important qualifying session.
Isack’s early setback came with 25 minutes left in FP1. The Frenchman had a snap of oversteer in the middle of the Swimming Pool chicane and lost the rear of his RB22. He went nose-first into the outside barrier before the rear of the car struck the barrier, ripping off the left-rear wheel.
The Team worked feverishly to get his car ready for FP2, and he returned to the track just 12 minutes into the session. He then worked methodically through a Medium-tyre programme before bolting on Softs, which took him to a best time of 1:14.087.