F1 Monaco GP live commentary and updates - Qualifying
Live updates from Formula 1 qualifying at the Monaco Grand Prix
Live Standings
Live Text
F1 Monaco GP qualifying
Good afternoon everyone, and welcome back - assuming you were along for the ride in FP3 earlier! Time is ticking down towards the most important qualifying session of the year, as 20 drivers tackle Monaco at breakneck speed.
It's going to be a fun hour - just over 30 minutes until the action begins.
Monaco FP3 recap
It was a surprisingly exciting free practice session earlier today, as the teams struggled to get the soft tyres to fire up over a single lap. Max Verstappen had led the way for much of the session with a lap on mediums, which he himself struggled to get near on the red-walled C6s.
Charles Leclerc found a way past, however; after much in the way of tinkering with prep laps and run-plans, the Monegasque tamed his home streets and set a 1m10.953s to go 0.28s faster than Verstappen.
Lewis Hamilton then put his car in the wall at Massenet to bring an early end to the session.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
Hamilton's FP3 crash
On a lap, Hamilton washed out wide at Massenet (Turn 3) and hit the right-hand side wall, and eventually came to rest at Casino Square.
The stewards had noted the incident, purely to check if the pair of Antonelli and Ocon ahead had caused sufficient interference into the corner.
In reality, Hamilton took a different line into the corner over his previous hot lap and sustained a snap at the apex - which led to his interaction with the barrier.
Ferrari has had time to assess the damage, which didn't appear to be too extensive - so Hamilton should be good to go for qualifying.
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images via Getty Images
T-15 minutes to Monaco qualifying
It's all going to be about traffic management - do you fuel up and stay out for a few laps, or try to get it all done first-time out?
And then there's drivers backing off at the exit of the Rascasse, drivers on cooldown laps, and various other things to be aware of as you set up for your own quali effort. It's going to be dicey, especially in Q1.
Q1 is up very shortly - get yourself a cup of tea, and then forget to drink it for the next 20 minutes while engrossed by the all-action opening stage.
One of the interesting bits will be which tyres people choose to use. The C5 is a tiny bit slower than the C6s but seems to hold up slightly better over a lap - the C6s need a bit more in thermal management.
Monaco Q1 is underway
Albon, Sainz, and Ocon are up first. There's a huge queue in the pitlane as the drivers try to get some space to do their thing.
The two Alpines begin the session on medium tyres, so they're already doing something different.
Both Williams drivers appear to be double warm-up laps - Ocon's already gone for a 1m15.294s, which is shaded by Bearman's 1m14.598s.
Hulkenberg then posts a 1m13.354s to go top, so he's gone for an immediate dip too.
Albon then does a 1m13.153s, so he's picked up the pace - although we're still over 2s slower than we were earlier.
The big guns are on track now; Leclerc's going for a first tilt and does a 1m13.063s, but Liam Lawson finds a 1m12.946s after doing two warm-ups.
Stroll moves to the top with a 1m12.878s, just 0.001s over Bearman - then Gasly moves up to third on the mediums.
Norris then moves ahead of everyone with a 1m12.860s, which is immediately beaten by Piastri's 1m12.439s. They're getting closer to the ultimate pace here, whittling away at the times with each lap.
Sainz and Albon split the McLarens, but it's over to Leclerc who does a 1m12.091s to state his authority.
Hamilton is about 0.25s off his team-mate - but in comes Max Verstappen's 1m11.920s, as the Dutchman finds great pace on his opening run.
Big lap from Norris, a 1m11.596s to put himself in the frame here this afternoon. Piastri follows him with a 1m11.791s, as the McLarens find time.
Leclerc splits the McLarens, 0.156s slower than Norris' benchmark. Verstappen looks excellent in sector 1, but he's losing time in the following sectors - and remains fourth after his latest effort.
At the other end, we've got Lawson, Hadjar, Hulkenberg, Colapinto, and Gasly in the relegation zone. Alpine's medium-tyre gamble didn't quite come to fruition.
Gasly got baulked at the Nouvelle Chicane by Stroll, who didn't realise there was another car behind him - much like FP1.
Russell puts himself into the top three here, having been pretty much anonymous in the practice sessions. That becomes fourth when Piastri sets a 1m11.385s to go fastest over Norris.
Hulkenberg fires his way into sixth on his latest lap - that pulls him out of the bottom five for now. It's going to be all change here, and a few drivers are going to lose out when the music stops.
Hadjar gets up to seventh, which becomes eighth when Antonelli moves up the pack. Ocon also escapes the clutches of the bottom five, pushing Tsunoda down.
Leclerc posts a 1m11.229s to go fastest now, as Piastri thinks he's touched the wall somewhere.
Gasly gets out of the bottom five for now, but Colapinto can't improve on his latest soft-tyre time. Tsunoda gets into ninth with the old-spec Red Bull.
Elimination zone with two minutes to go
16. Bortoleto, 17. Alonso, 18. Bearman, 19. Stroll, 20. Colapinto.
The Williams duo get into fourth and fifth. Hamilton's in 13th and is having to prime himself for another lap.
Hamilton gets up to fourth with his final tour, as Verstappen improves to go third. Norris then improves up to second.
Lawson and Alonso break free of the bottom five - who else can find a way out?
Antonelli hits the wall at the Nouvelle Chicane
That's session over - Bortoleto had just got into the top 15 and was safe, before Hadjar got ahead just before the red flag.
Antonelli touched the inside wall after turning in too early at the Nouvelle Chicane, and skittered across the track and went into the opposite barrier. That's all she wrote for the Italian rookie here.
Eliminated in Q1
16. Bortoleto
17. Bearman
18. Gasly
19. Stroll
20. Colapinto
Franco Colapinto, Alpine
Photo by: Peter Fox / Getty Images
The start of Q2 will be delayed to fix the Nouvelle Chicane barriers - that gives me a chance to check I've not accidentally written "Nouvelle Cuisine" somewhere in the live text.
Meantime, Hamilton's had a bit of a radio fumble as he wasn't sure if Verstappen was pushing or not. The Dutchman had a bit of a squeaky-bum moment as he approached Hamilton's Ferrari at Massenet.
Antonelli made it into Q2, but won't be able to run - so this puts him P15 at best for the grid tomorrow. At least Mercedes can flex its strategic chops...
Q2 begins in Monaco
The second phase of quali starts now - both Williams have mediums on now. Both cars are fuelled for the session, so they'll keep going through the session. Leclerc and Hamilton also have the mediums on.
This didn't work for either of the Alpines, but they did give up on them rather than persist to the end - perhaps desperation killed the team's curiosity.
Leclerc puts his first time on the board, a 1m11.314s on those mediums. But Norris finds a hatful of time on the softs, a 1m10.959s to go fastest!
Max Verstappen splits the two at the top of the order.
Russell stops in Monaco tunnel
Mercedes hits double-trouble as Russell loses power, and comes to a halt in the middle of the tunnel.
That brings the session to a close, although Russell's asking if he can try the ol' turn it off and on again trick.
"I think that's game over, sorry mate. We've got no battery," Russell is told. He looks distinctly unhappy with that; Russell was in with a shout of a decent qualifying result.
This makes Mercedes' Sunday efforts a lot more difficult now.
Russell lost power going up the hill to Massenet, kept the car ticking over - but it ran out of steam on the exit of Portier. He's been pushed out of the tunnel, so hopefully we'll get going shortly.
There's still 10 minutes of Q2 left. Ocon, Tsunoda, Piastri, Russell and Antonelli sit in the bottom five - only three of them will get a chance of breaking out of the drop zone.
Piastri set a purple first sector, but had to abort after Russell's stop.
The session will resume in a couple of minutes, at 16:44 local time.
Q2 resumes after Russell stoppage
As it stands, we have Norris, Verstappen, Leclerc, Albon, Lawson, Hadjar, Alonso, Hulkenberg, Hamilton, and Sainz in the top 10.
Hulkenberg kicks us off at the pitlane, followed by Albon.
The Williams duo is persisting with the mediums - Alonso is the only other C5 runner out there - as the Ferraris have ditched them for the C6s. It's all about getting into Q3 here, as the timing board is cleared after this session.
Leclerc posts a 1m10.581s to go fastest, while Hamilton is second - 0.302s off his team-mate.
Piastri then puts his McLaren into fourth to break out of the bottom five - putting Sainz back in. The Spaniard then continues to find time and moves up to seventh, shoving Hulkenberg down to 11th.
A strong final sector puts Norris just 0.011s above Leclerc to go top. Albon and Sainz are both in the box, so might be looking to try some softs for the final part of the session.
Tsunoda is out of the bottom five, but just 0.003s clear of Hadjar.
Elimination zone with two minutes left
11. Hadjar, 12. Hulkenberg, 13. Ocon, 14. Russell, 15. Antonelli.
Williams has indeed ditched the mediums for the final laps of the session, while Verstappen gets up to third - but he's still over 0.3s off Norris' best.
"I cannot do more", Alonso says. He's up to seventh, and believes he's hit the limit.
Hubris? Not a bit of it; Hadjar pings up to sixth before Albon moves up to third place, but neither Sainz nor Tsunoda are able to break out of the bottom five on their last runs. Alonso is safe.
Eliminated in Q2
11. Sainz
12. Tsunoda
13. Hulkenberg
14. Russell
15. Antonelli
Top 10 through to Q3
Norris
Leclerc
Albon
Piastri
Verstappen
Hamilton
Hadjar
Alonso
Lawson
Ocon
Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Team, Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls Team
Photo by: Peter Fox / Getty Images
Q3 begins at Monaco
Here we go - who's going to get the most prime real estate in Monaco for tomorrow's race? Let's find out!
Piastri kicks off with a 1m10.531s, as Norris puts in a 1m10.464s to open the session. Hamilton is about half a second off Norris on his first run of Q3, as Leclerc slots into third place.
What's Verstappen got? We're about to find out.
By: Haydn Cobb
