Lando Norris secured McLaren’s first pole position at the Monaco Grand Prix since 2007, setting a new lap record in the process. The British driver clocked a time of 1 minute 9.954 seconds in the final moments of qualifying, edging out Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by just over a tenth of a second.
Norris had already topped the timesheets in the second qualifying session and managed to repeat the performance when it counted in Q3. His lap surpassed the previous benchmark of 1 minute 10.166 seconds set by Lewis Hamilton in 2019.
McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri will start third after posting a time of 1 minute 10.129 seconds. Hamilton had initially qualified fourth with a time of 1 minute 10.382, but a three-place grid penalty for impeding Max Verstappen during Q1 drops him to seventh. Verstappen, who qualified with a time of 1 minute 10.669, will now start from the second row.
The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to Norris by South Korean actor Lee Jung-jae, best known internationally for his role in the Netflix series “Squid Game.”
Earlier in the day, the final practice session saw teams focus on performance runs with most opting for the softest C6 compound. A few teams, including Red Bull and Aston Martin, briefly ran Mediums while five drivers completed scrubbing laps on Hards. Aston Martin in particular continued its usual routine of preparing multiple tyre sets across all compounds.
During qualifying, tyre strategy was mixed. Eight drivers used at least one set of Mediums, suggesting a narrow performance gap between compounds. This was confirmed by Pirelli’s analysis, which noted the C6 offered only a slight advantage over the C5, estimated at around a tenth of a second.
Sunday’s race is expected to be more unpredictable than usual in Monaco. A special regulation for this event requires teams to use at least three different tyre sets, opening up a wide range of strategic options. Several teams, including Red Bull, Racing Bulls and Sauber, are limited to one set each of Medium and Hard tyres, which guarantees the use of C6 during the race. With safety car appearances likely and multiple tyre strategies in play, teams are preparing for an eventful Grand Prix.
