The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2026 Monaco GP Qualifying Review

Episode Date: June 6, 2026

If there’s one thing Monaco always delivers on, it’s qualifying. What a session! Ben and Sam break down all the action, from Audi’s disastrous day in the Principality to a spectacularly thrilling Q3 that had us all on the edge of our seats... Get involved in F1 Fantasy this season! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join the Late Braking league⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and see if you can beat us... LEAGUE CODE: C6Y6R4ZUY02 Want more Late Braking? Support the show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and get:Ad-free listeningFull-length bonus episodesPower Rankings after every raceHistorical race reviews& more exclusive extras!Don't forget! You can also gift a Late Braking Patreon subscription—perfect for loved ones or your own wish list. Choose anything from 1 month up to a full year of top-notch F1 content: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/latebrakingf1/gift⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Connect with Late Braking:You can find us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X (Twitter)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Come hang out with us and thousands of fellow F1 fans in our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Discord⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ server and get involved in lively everyday & race weekend chats!Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠F1 Fantasy League⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and see if you can beat us!Get in touch any time at [e-mail]  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Thank you for listening to the Late Breaking F1 podcast. Make sure to check out new episodes every Wednesday and every Sunday. Very warm, welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Sam Sage and me, Ben Hocking. Monaco qualifying. Normally, Sam, I like to think I can kick off some of these episodes, at least, with a bit of eloquence. I just don't have any words for this one, though. It's Monaco qualifying. It was great. It's a belter.

When a Formula One session gets me stood up in the lounge when I'm watching the And I'm saying to everyone else, shush, please, please be quiet. Please stop talking. I need to watch this. I need to know what's going on. That's when Formula One's got you. That's where it's good. And it is good to be back doing qualifying at Monaco.

Absolutely. I've got plenty to get into today, of course, all the way from Q1, down to that incredibly thrilling Q3 that saw Antonelli get yet another pole position ahead of Max Verstappen's Red Bull, both Ferraris on the second row, Hamilton. ahead of Lecler. Just those standings, though, don't really tell the whole story. Let's get into how Antonelli was able to get poll. It looked like Sam yesterday in sort of first and second practice.

Mercedes won a million miles off the pace, but equally not what we've seen from them so far this year. We get to FP3 this morning. Antonelli leads the way, and suddenly it looks like Mercedes are back. Then we get throughout the first couple of parts of qualifying, and again, like they're in the mix, but it is a mix. It's not going to be a dominant pole. And then right at the

end of Q3, Antonelli pulls out the bag at one minute 12 just ahead of Max Verstappen. Frient and stuff. Thrilling. Absolutely captivating an incredible performance from him. It's amazing to see that he's able to rock up and do it again another venue, a venue where last year he was, I'm going to say it, woeful. He was really poor last time out, crashed in qualifying, nowhere near the points, well off the pace of his team. all the other rivals. He's rocked up here at his second time of asking, and he's not just beating his teammate,

who, let's face it, he has obliterated today. He's beating four-time world champion Max Verstappen. He's beating seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. He's beating regular poll sitter and home favorite, Charles LeCler. It is a sensational turnout for the books, and it was a thrilling session.

He does it all without a single fastest sector throughout his final lap as well, green across the board, which shows you that he must be at 99% for every single one of those sectors and the consistency from him. When only he's at his second appearance at Monaco is phenomenal, just groundbreaking stuff. Great to see him take the fight to the kind of the big guns of Monaco, the guys that have done it before. It's really good to see him rock up and steal the show a little bit.

Yeah, and it was the consistency for me throughout today that has really, really shown the development of Antonelli because I was having a look through sort of best sector times from third practice just to see going into qualifying who might be in the conversation for poll. Antonelli was an obvious one based on him being fastest in FP3. But I was just looking at like, who had the fastest sector one time? It was Antonelli. But it wasn't just that. He had like the four best times.

And then you look at sector three and it's basically the same thing. He was just able to very consistently without ever really getting too close to the walls, that there were larrier drivers out there. think than Antonelli today. And that really impressed me. Antonelli seems to be right now on this, I'm going to call it a box ticking exercise in terms of what he needs to prove in the sport.

It's like, going into this year, it's like, can he win a Grand Prix? China wins. Can he win consistently? Well, he's on this incredible run right now. And then Monaco, such a unique challenge. We've seen plenty of drivers succeed elsewhere in the sport and then get to Monaco and not be able to bring it.

I'm going to say he brunged it. He brunged it indeed. Yeah, the famous words I think of a part of Aetting Sengertes's wonderful speech, right? Where you have that outer body experience, you have to brug it. But I do think it is like an out of body experience. I do think you have to go into this flow state to achieve pole position at Monaco. You have to be so at one with, you know, the bumps. It's such a bumpy track.

It's underestimated just how bumpy Monaco is. You don't have to look at that first sector, the famous undulation down the hill. into Casino Square, where you have to avoid the undulation, it takes the car out. He's mastered it so quickly. But it's the way that he had to come through the session as well, because Ferrari, good to see you carrying that FP1, FP2 domination all the way through the weekend again. That's what we like to see, guys. Good job.

He had to overcome that. He did. And then other challenges begin to arise. The Claire looked strong. The McLaren boys peak really well in the second session of qualifying. Max for Staffling, of course, he rears his head. And you think, oh, no, Max at Monarch. We've seen this before.

And yet Kimi Antingelli, who, as we've said before, struggled big time here, finally able to realize the reality that he's set in FP3 achieves that goal in final qualifying, takes pole position. Is it a done thing though, Ben? Is it definitely a win on the cards for him? No. It might be a done thing after the first corner, but that is going to be a real interesting one.

Like we've often said that if you're on poll at Monaco, you've got a done. a very good chance of winning. And that still stands. But that's before we, before this season where we've had such a difference between the sort of starting times from these drivers and these teams. Like, you know, Charlotte Clare and Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari have been so good at starts this year. They're going to be third and fourth.

I feel like they've missed out in that you, even with their good starts this year, you kind of need to be on the front row here. One of them had to be second, right? I think so. And Vastappen. I'm pretty sure if he sees half an opportunity into term one, he will probably back out and go, you know what?

That's not for me. Famously, that's what Max Verstappen does, right? Yeah, yeah. Backs out. There's a sliver of an opportunity there. I'm going to leave it. I'm going to leave it.

I call me sliver of opportunity. Oh, thanks for stopping. I just. It's just what I won't be doing into turn one. I'll be staying where I am. That is maybe the only opportunity that Ferrari have, right? An incident between the front two, where Max Verstackenstein's teases his only chance to win.

And Kimi Antigelli sees his first chance to win Monaco. Maybe those two are two immovable objects that come together. They've got a hope that the advantage, in quotation marks, advantage that Ferrari have is that within the top four, they are the only team with two drivers. If one of them can do something a little bit different and strategically a safety car goes their way, maybe something can happen.

But that is going to be reliant on. both Leclair and Hamilton sticking with Antonelli and Vostappan. We don't really know, as it's usually the case at Monaco, what the race pace is going to be like, because throughout practice, even though we've got three practice sessions, they're so focused on one lap pace that it is difficult to draw conclusions

until we get to race day. But it is going to be reliant on, I think, something a bit different and getting a bit lucky. Do you think there's a chance that we're seeing on the Mercedes-Poor start, though, and they're actually Hamilton, all the clare, because obviously the cler isn't directly

behind Anthony Ellie, Hamilton might get caught up in this without the room to move, but Lecler might be like to go around the outside of term one. It's tough. There's just not a lot of space. I know the cars are slightly smaller, but as has kind of been alluded to all weekend long, it's not substantial to make the racing that much different.

I don't think. I can't see a situation, and I can't wait to be wrong on this because it would be very exciting. I can't see a situation where the Ferraris aren't going to be completely boxed in, even if they do get a good start. It does feel like that. I do think it's going to come down to you. As always,

and we heard a few complaints and qualifying about rear tyres overheating. Now, the race pace is usually significantly slower. They're obviously that one lap pace, so they're not stressing the tyres enough. But I do wonder if we might see some long shots on a strategy or something to try and play into safety car where someone preempts

it maybe, and that's how it really mixes things up. I wouldn't be surprised. Antonelli's nearest challenger today, of course, starting on the front row with him tomorrow, Max Verstappen, going to hold my hands up and say, I was completely wrong because I wrote them off midweek. I did not think Red Bull were going to be competitive with... What was your bold prediction?

My bold prediction was that there would be no Mercedes on the podium, I think. For some reason, a whole week I'd be going, Ben's predictive of Stapp and Paul. It's going to happen. No, no, that would see, well, it would make sense, given it was really close and didn't happen, that that would be my ball prediction. But no, I, George Russell at least listened to me

when I made that bold prediction, but not... That's true. Yeah, he doesn't listen to us. He's the only one of the 22 that doesn't. Look, it suits him well. He's winning. He's doing all right. You are right, though. Overweight cars, just didn't think they'd be in the mix. But the crazy rear wings that we're seeing, the adaptions that we're seeing,

and we haven't got any movable arrow going on here. I mean, Max Verstappen at Monaco is a duo made in heaven. It makes sense that he's a challenger. I wasn't expecting to be the challenger, being that close to Antingelli. The Red Bull doesn't feel like it should suit this track right now, and yet arguably Hajar has backed up the point that it does. He's still going near Max Verstappen, but he's close enough that he's a challenger of something.

where to happen if you're going to fight with him, right? It's three and a half tenths Vastappen to our job. It's not embarrassing. It's not massive. Yeah, I, fair play to Vestappen, and it's almost as if you shouldn't write him off,

or if you do want to write him off, you do so at your peril. He was brilliant, and coming into qualifying, I didn't think he had much of a chance of poll, but the only way I could see it happening based on the gaps that we were seeing, Vestappen and Red Bull were losing way too much

in the middle sector. The first and final sectors were looking pretty good, but the middle sector was just too far off. And I was thinking the only way Vastappen's going to challenge for Pohl is if he absolutely lights up the first and final sectors and just doesn't lose too much in the middle sector. And that is pretty much exactly how it played out, just not quite enough for him. He's giving up a couple attempts to Antonelli in that middle sector. He's just, he couldn't quite find enough in the first and final sectors, as good as he was in both of them. to, I don't know, negate that damage that was being done. The bit that made me realise it was real in Q3

was when the Claire had set that initial time to go back to the top again after he made that mistake. And then Max started his penultimate run. And he goes through the first sector and it's against the Clur's time at that point. And you see purple appear. It's not purple 0.003 or 0.0.49. It's 0.2.25, I think it was.

And you think, how are you? how have you taken two tents out of this in Monaco? It's only 18 and a half seconds. Where have you found that? The man is just pulling out of his backside at this point, a fair play to you, because it was a fantastic lap. I think he'll be a little bit...

You know what? I think he'll be proud of that lap, and I think he'll look at Kimi and go, fair play, but you beat me in that lap because I put everything into it. I mean, Vestappen has dunked nearly two temps on anyone not named Antonelli. It's a great lap from him.

For me, it was the 12-5. I think it was that he did in Q2. Because even at that point, I was like, no, he might get second row or something, but he's not in the fight for pole. And I'll play you my exact reaction to that 12-5 as soon as he crossed the line. I just went,

ho-ho! Because I knew at that point it was game on. We're in. We're here. It did feel like this could have gone six different ways very easily. It feels like if both McLaren took up a lap, they were in both Ferrari,

they could have had it, Kimmy, Max, it felt like at any point you could have had a different poll system. And that is what we want in qualifying. What about Ferrari, the reigning FP2 champions coming into qualifying today, couldn't quite unlock the same pace that maybe we thought they would have

going into this weekend and what they showed in the earlier parts of practice this weekend. Hamilton, just over two temps away from the poll time, Charles LeCla, exactly three temps away. of course, Lecler somewhat hampered by not being able to get a first run in. Well, pretty massively hampered by that, meaning his run, his second run was altered somewhat. It felt like chassis-wise, this could have happened for them. Who knows? Maybe something weird happens tomorrow that it still does.

But I did not think going into today's qualifying session that neither of them was going to be on the front row. No, I agree. You know when, this is a strange analogy, folks, but skip with me, you're at the beach. You've got to try and get some water from the sea over to your little sandcast that you're making, but you haven't got a bucket. So you gather it up with your hands and you're running over the beach, get into your little moat that you're building. And as you're running, it's slowly falling between the cracks and your fingers.

That's kind of what it felt like for Ferrari this weekend. They scooped up the FP1, FP2 sessions. Hey, we've got all this water. Look at us go. We're running. And as they get to the end of qualifying, their little moat, it's all just falling away between their fingers. That's what it felt like for Ferrari.

It felt like they started so strong, full of optimism, full of momentum, motivation. And they get there, once again bested by the Silver Arrow and Max Verstappen. I can just imagine now this dry moat and Charles LeCler looking at it crumbling and going, Where can I sign? Another five years? Is it under the sand castle? It just didn't work out for them, didn't.

Lewis Hamilton said that his post-qualifying interview that they felt so confident throughout practice. And then they came into qualifying and the car felt completely different for them. We even saw the re-emergence of the blue thingy from a Ferrari mechanic as Hamilton comes in. It demands a wing tightening, an angle change on his front wing to get more front wing, more downforce. And it just couldn't seem to get the car set up to the point where, of course, in the final moments, we see Charlotte Clare thrashing the car through the second sector only to come into contact with the wall to give himself a puncture. you can say how much it means to the lad.

Oh, of course. I mean, he didn't hit the wall on the previous run where he very briefly got provisional poll. I do not know how. You could see this happening in that he was, he must have been millimeters away on that first run. And you think, well, if he's going to give the exact same percentage into the next lap or more,

there is a serious danger that he's going to crash this car. Now, of course, we know he's done that before. That was when he actually did get pole position, but on his second run, put it in the wall and wasn't able to start the next day. It's not going to be the same situation as that, I don't think. But I think, look, it's self-inflicted for LeClau to an extent. Like, that first run that he couldn't get done, but that altered everything that happened after it.

It is a horrific domino effect. And there aren't many tracks where you could get away with mucking up your first run, but Monaco is one of the tracks that you have to get. your first run in. The banker is almost as important as your push lap, because you can only have your push lap if you've got the banker. Because if you go for your push lap and you're too hard, you hit the wall and you're even further back. So the fact that he was on the back foot for the entirety of Q3, it just meant that, you know, Monaco's son was never really going to have the ability to rise up. Yeah, I'm not certain the pace was quite there for Ferrari anyway,

even if it comes together. It was close. I don't think it was quite there with what Antonelli and Vastap were able to do. Lewis Hamilton is here this weekend, so is Kim Kardashian, apparently. Not that we've seen her at all. I've not noticed her at all. No, no. You know what? My favourite thing about Q3 at Monaco is, one of the most exciting qualifying sessions

of the year, being able to go away to Kim Kardashian, four minutes to go in the session. Brilliant. To be fair, to be fair, the only thing I'll say about Kim Kardashian, she doesn't choose to have the camera put on her, and there were other girlfriends slash partners put on the camera as well. So I don't need it. We don't need it, but I don't need any of them. So that's what I'm saying. I don't need any of them.

They're looking at me going. I'm better off without them. Don't worry, Sam. We're fine without you too. Lewis Hamilton, he seemed fairly on it throughout this session. He's ended up two temps back. And in all honesty, nearly all of that two tempest is in that first sector, the middle and final sectors, pretty much on par with the two drivers ahead of him.

Yeah, he looks solid. comfortable, but I'm glad that he built into this qualifying session. So often we've seen him be on par with LeClerc in Q1, and actually it slip away throughout qualifying, but I think it was the opposite here. In Q1, he was, I think, four or five tenths off what Charles LeClaire was able to do, who I think topped the first session. And then we go into Q2, again, the gap is slightly closer, but he's still behind Charles LeCler in Q2. Still two tempsish. Exactly. And then Q3 arrives, and okay, I know LeCle makes the mistake. And sure, if he finishes that lap, we might see a difference. I don't think that Claire's getting onto the front row.

But at most, it will be a big half attempt, I think, between the two of them. And it shows that Hamilton became more and more comfortable as the session went on. And you know what, it turns out, he doesn't hit the wall. He beat Charlotte Claire. And he's got the favourable starting position for tomorrow. There's every chance he can win that Ferrari duel at Monaco. Yeah, I think a pretty good effort from Lewis Hamilton on the whole. What about two drivers, Isaac Adjad, George Russell,

they're going to start on the third road together, two drivers that weren't able to match what their teammates have been able to do. I guess it makes sense to start with George Russell, because all throughout the day, this isn't a surprise. George Russell has not been on it versus Antonelli, really. I was going to say, he was a little bit better yesterday, maybe, but all of today, it's not the case. Woeful. Genuinely, really woeful, really poor. Q1 comes along, and we already see the weaknesses of the car with Russell. It's sliding his 10 KPH slower through a key.

parts of the track in the third sector. The age of nine tenths down on Kimi Anzangeli in the first session, which is scary, but he's gotten away with it because the car's behind you're just so slow that it doesn't really matter. We get into Q2 and you think, okay, this is all right, but Russell was in P8 and I think he's about seven tenths away from Kimmy Antingelli at that point, which again is so poor. And he's so lucky that again, we're in this part of Formula One, this new era, where those midfield cars just can't get into that top eight.

it's an absolute glory run, they can't disrupt the top eight. If that was last year, I think George Russell would have been 14th, 13th. I think he easily will have been displaced, and he's got away with it. And yet we get to Q3. And I'd argue, this is the best of a bad situation for George Russell, the fact that he's beaten McLaren's, right? The fact that he's not right at the very back of his Q3 session. He just hasn't got the confidence.

He's not got the belief in the car. He can't seem to extract the time. He's so far off his team, mate. I think if you said to George Russell, you're going to rock up to Monaco, 40 points down in the championship, and your teammates can be on poll again, and you're not also on the front row, is going to be devastated, absolutely devastating. It's a nightmare scenario for Russell. A bit of a head scratcher as well in that it's not in one corner, it's not in one sector. It's pretty much evenly spread out throughout the lap. And I know there were instances where he had an issue coming out of sector one, for example, and then he had some instability going through the swimming pool section.

And, you know, it's almost like it's trying to say, well, that that's part of the reason, or that is the reason why he's slower than Antonelli. In most of those instances, it explained maybe 40% of why he was slower. Because, like, you could take away the maybe three temps that he lost there, and he's still got another three temps to find elsewhere in the lap. It was just so well balanced in not a good way that it's very difficult to know what to do about it because it's just a general lack of pace. Yeah, it is worrying for George Russell.

I think if he could get out the car and point to one thing, then he would be like to cure that one thing or come away from this weekend to go, right, this X thing is bothering me, we need to alter it. I know I can come back stronger. But when it's pretty much every corner on a racetrack, you start to question at what point am I just not quicker than my team mate? And crucially for Hadjar is qualified just ahead of Russell, not a million miles away from Vastappan,

at least in the context of Vastappan's previous wins over teammates in the last few years. It seems fairly reasonable. One set of teammates that we're evaluating, you look at and go, this is devastating for one of them. The other ones, Vastap and Hager, you go, you know what? This is what you expect. He's the junior teammate. It's still only his fifth Grand Prix in the team.

The car has been unstable. It's overweight. It's difficult to drive. He's going up against four-time world champion, Max Verstappen, not Kimi Antigli, who's only in his fifth race of his first fully competitive season. And you think, all right, three-tenths. That's not too bad. You're in the mix.

You're well inside the top ten. You're embarrassing yourself in any way. If there's an instant up front, you can capitalize here. I think he can be all right with this. I'm not sure he'll be happy, but I think he'll be all right. Yeah, I think that's fair. Let's take a quick break. On the other side, we've got McLaren and the rest of the top ten before we delve into Q2 and Q1.

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Get started today. Welcome back, everyone. McLaren, not really on the pace. Oscar Piastri, just under six temps back from the poll time of Antonelli. Lando Norris just over seven temps back. It felt like going into sort of Q2, Sam, that they were starting to get into the mix a little bit, but whereas some of those other teams have found an extra gear, McLaren couldn't.

Yeah, they slipped away quite quietly towards the end of Q3. They emerged brilliantly in Q2. It felt like they had found their feet, like the confidence had come to them. Landon Norris in particular at one point looked like he was really on the pace, and he did jump to the top of the timing screens during Q2, made you think, okay, we've got another challenger here.

McLaren are able to pull it out the bag. And you think the compliments we were giving them in the preview episode that we do in the middle of the week, we were saying that without the Mercedes engine being the hamperer against Mercedes, you think, okay, that may be with a superior chassis potentially. MacLen might be like a step up. They might be like a supersedes Mercedes here. Not to be the case behind both of the Merck guys, especially surprising considering how Paul Russell was.

And actually, this is the first time in any session that Russell was in front of any McLarenet, let alone both of them. So it's a real surprise that both Piaastri and Norris have fallen this far back. I am surprised that Norris is behind Piusstri as well. Piusri was doing well through the sessions, but I think Norris had the ultimate faster pace here. So I can see him behind Piaastri was a big of a surprise. This is essentially last place for the top four teams.

I felt Piastri and Norris were fairly well matched throughout the session. So I'm not overly surprised that Piastri is the one that's finished ahead, but ultimately I think seventh and eighth is the best they could have hoped for, which is a shame for the team that it's not more than this. But where we're talking about Q2 to Q3, the likes of Antonelli. Antonelli found seven temps between those two sessions. Hamilton found six tenths.

Lecler, Vestappenboe found around four tenths of a second. Lano Norris, it was about a tenth and a half. Piastri, a bit more about three tenths. But both of them couldn't find that same jump. And yeah, there were reasons to believe that McLaren could be confident, like with the shorter wheelbase that they have and again, what you're referencing in terms of the engine. But ultimately, a very comfortable fourth place here, which will annoy them. Gassley and Lawson made up the rest of the top 10. Good session for both, because I'm not

massively convinced either of those cars was the fifth fastest. No, I think they've driven really well here. Gatsey back to what feels like normality. No, after a couple of weeks where it felt a little bit touch and go as to his position inside the top ten. Of course, beaten by Colopinto most recently. And yet, here he is. Ninth place.

I think it's the best, I think it's the best position he could have asked for. I don't think any of these cars were getting in front of the top eight barring a red flag or a crash or whatnot. Lawson, though, I think he could really pat himself on the back. He clearly does well around Monaco and he likes it around here. But I think to be that far

in front of his teammate, Limblood, who sits all the way down in, what is it, 16th place, 15th place. 15th, yeah. 15th, yeah. You know, to be in front of the two Williams guys, we've seen race after race are improving, to beat Holkenberg, who, again, look really strong in Q1, actually, and could not carry that through, I think he'll be really pleased to not be ghastly, but really pleased to be inside the top 10. Yeah, I'm very impressed by both, because the Alpine, whilst we've been accustomed to seeing it as this fifth best team really all season long.

I just don't think that's the case this weekend. I think Alpine, Racing Balls, Hasse and Williams, those four teams, incredibly similar pace. So it was going to take something special from one of those drivers from those teams or two of those drivers from those teams to really elevate themselves above the sort of above the middle of the pack. and that's what both of them have been able to do. Like, Gassley's time in Q2 wasn't particularly special

in that he was still about three temps slower than Lawson in Q2, but ultimately just ahead of everyone else behind him. And then he's able to capitalize on that in Q3 to get ninth place. And like you say, the McLaren's in seventh and eighth. I don't think they were within touching distance of Gassie. So it will depend on how many retirements that we, we get inside that top eight as to how far up the likes of Gasley and Lawson can go. There is a very realistic chance that where they're sat now is where they will finish,

and it will be good for two points or one point, which will be a shame for both of them. But ultimately, even if overtaking was easier at Monaco, they aren't going to be challenging the eight cars in front. So they'll just be praying for maybe something similar to what happened with Colapinto in Canada, where there is actually a retirement for Russell, and some other things going on that can lead to you know,

seven for a sixth place finish. But a great effort for both of them. Agreed. Williams just missing out 11th and 12th, Albin ahead of signs. Could have been a lot worse for signs,

though he was very much in the Q1 drop zone when the Red Fly came out for Bortoletto. Do you think they'll be all right with that? I think they will be happy with this. I don't think Monaco suits their car at all. They're still chunky. They're still very much overweight. So the fact that they've been able to pulling 11th and 12th out,

because the result does not tell the story either. First, I'm going to give props to Alex Albin. We've kind of giving him a little bit of criticism over the last few weeks that he hasn't been on the same wavelength, the same ability as Carlos Sykes. And he's been regularly beaten by Sykes quite handingly. And yet here, it felt like he was one of the more comfortable of the qualifiers. I think secured quite a positive P-11.

Carlos Sykes had to get to P-12 in a much more difficult manner, where of course, before the reg flag that came out due to Bortoleto's crash, he was in the drop zone. He was all the way at the back and looking a little bit shaky for getting out of the session and yet gets the lapping, gets all the way through and jumps up right behind his team, under pressure, pretty much the only driver there to properly improve and knocks out, of course, Estabang O'Con in the process. So I do think that fair play to science for getting the lapping,

but Alex Alvin got the job done nice and early. Yeah, and with Alex Albin, as mentioned, like he has been struggling versus Carlos Sines in recent races, and it looked like it was heading exactly the same way. Carlos Sines had a significant advantage over his teammate earlier on today, earlier part of qualifying. And then you get Q1, and there's circumstances around that with Carlos Sines needing that lap at the end. But then in Q2, it is Alex Albin that's able to pull it out the bag. And I know Carlos Sines wasn't particularly happy with his lap. We don't know how happy Alex Album was with his, to be fair.

But he's got the job done in qualifying, something that I don't think he's done all year if you take out the Australian GP where Carlos Sines didn't even start qualifying. But Sines has been the one consistently ahead. And that's not the case here. But I also want to give credit to Sines because with the way track evolution works, as soon as cars start circulating the track, those times will come down, they'll come down.

We were looking at 1-13s and 1-14s in Q1, and suddenly we're nearly in the 11th's in Q3. Track evolution is massive here. But as soon as you don't have cars circulating around the track, it does work the other way. Like, it becomes more difficult to find the time. And whereas the likes of Olli Bearman, for example, couldn't find that lap time at the very end of Q1

after the Bortoletto red flag, Carlos Seind is the one that is able to find something. And it wasn't all that close. Like, he got to about 11th or 12th place as a result of that lap. So, yeah, full credit to both of them. I think 11th and 12th is pretty okay. Whether that actually leads to any points tomorrow, who knows. It's Monaco.

If it all goes perfectly, nothing will happen. Permission to be annoyed. Yeah, you're welcome to be annoyed, sir. Audi, what are you doing? It could have gone so well. They were looking so quick. quick. genuinely, I think they had a chance of beating the McLaren's. I think double Q3 was almost a given at one point.

Oh, 100%. Like all the way throughout practice, Audi looked better than all of the other midfield cars to the point where they weren't really a midfield car. They were competing with the times of Isaac Adjah and the McLaren duo. And maybe that goes away a little bit when you get to qualifying and the likes of McLaren start to turn the wick up. But even if If that happens, that's enough at least for 8th for 9th or 9th and 10th. And what do we get instead? Gabriel Bortoletto, Cardinal Sin, of crashing it at the end of Q1, which, again, he's not as penalised for it as he probably should be, but he'll start 16th place.

And then Holkenberg in Q2 just cannot find the lap time that he needs to progress. Whereas everyone else is massively improving Q1 to Q2, Holkenberg doesn't. and I'm not quite sure the reason why, but he had the pace that looked like it was, it was seventh or eighth place. But, Monaco, what are you going to do from 13th and 16th? Sit in the pool, probably,

probably not worth trying. Yeah, that crash is maybe one of the most psychotic places to crash in all of Formula One. It's claimed so many a tire as that. And it is marginal. It is so marginal. He maybe clips it by a centimetre at most. And you know what?

He even stops it before it hits the barrier on the opposite side, of the track. Fair play to you on three wheels. But nonetheless, you did clip it. You did take yourself out. And any chance of exercising that Audi pace, which did look so positive in practice, has been ruled out. I don't understand what happened to Holgerberg. I am baffled by what happened to

Holgerberg. So quick, the Q1. It looked like he was really challenging for what looked like maybe at best coming, maybe fifth place, if everything really went well. But at worst, maybe eighth or ninth, he's suddenly falling the way back here, all the way down to where Colopinto is, and an alpine that we don't thing is particularly quick. So

Audi will be gutted. Again, it's another weekend that feels like it's just gotten away from them. And the only positive I think they can take away from this is the truck is so narrow that actually, even with their terrible starts, surely they can only fall back so far. No, that's the annoying thing. Is that if they'd started well

in 9th and 10th, this might be the one track where they don't fall back and they can score points. They just make a roadblock and not anyone else come past. But no, they'll be 19th and 20th. Come on, man. I, yeah. Just a waste. And both drivers looked fairly on it as well.

There wasn't a clear. Maybe Holkenberg was marginally quicker. But it looked like both of them were on it. I had this after FP3 as a, this will be an Audi double Q3. Q1, three teams made up a Q1, the two hash drivers, the two Aston Martin drivers, and the two Cadillac drivers. Thoughts on that? Oh, I call out Perez.

Perez beat Behrman. Perez is beating a harsh car here. He's on it at the moment. He's qualifying. He's really good. Because actually, I would put that down as his weakness in Formula One. He's thrashing Bottas.

He is thrashing Bottas. He's thrashing Bottas. There's tents between them. And the fact that he is beating Olly Behrman. You can see the blood, sweat and tears coming out of Oli Behrman to get that lapping. It was all over the place that car, sliding across the whole track. He's closer to Ocon, I think, then he is to Bottas. there is overall up time.

Oh, easily, yeah. So Perez was 1.454 away from the fastest timing in Q1, which I think was about a 10th or so away from actually making it through to Q2. But he is five and a half tenths ahead of Valtrey Bottas. It's pretty substantial. Yeah, Bottas has come out this week quite angrily. I'm not going to say the words on the show, but he's called it a bit poo-poo with the comments in the press

the same that his drive is already at risk and up for grabs. So he's saying that it's rubbish. But we've qualified performances like this at Monaco, where he has previously done very, very well, you would argue that maybe they're showing the other way around. And the fact that Perez is closer to Ocon, a car that is far superior and beating a hearse, which I think is a great job by him.

This is not good from Valtry Bottas. No, but I also wanted to give credit to Perez. Yeah, that's definitely one of my takeaways from the lower part of the the grid. Astor Martin 21st and 22nd. Okay, Fernando Alonzo has managed to go seven temps faster than his teammate, and that has got him one place.

Seven tenth, so he's still 21st. He's seven times faster than his teammate, and he's over two seconds slower than the fastest time. Well, at least I'll look pretty... Oh, no, they don't. It's all right. We won't see them at all right. No. Well, we'll see that when they get lapped.

I'd be annoyed if I was doing a special delivery for Aston Martin at the moment because you're not getting any coverage. Yeah, I'll be like, just wait. I'll just save them up. I'll make some really good ones. They take this one that's rubbish because the paint's heavier and apparently it changes color under the sun. I have that one now. I'll do the pretty ones for when we win titles. Maybe when you're getting lapped, you can convince people that actually you're leading and it's there, you know, oh, Antonelli's nearly getting past Lanchrol for the lead of this race. Little do they know he's three laps down at this point. No one's ever going to believe that.

Even as a joke, no one's believe in that. Some of these sponsors don't necessarily know a lot about F1. Maybe you can get away with it. Sure, fine. Yeah, just censor the, and cut it in very specific ways to make it look like he's in front. I think Alonzo's patience is running out. What's he going to do? What's he going to do?

No, but I just, not in terms of like what he's going to do about it, but in terms of some of the comments that he's had this weekend where he's just outright said that hybrid cars, should not be allowed to race or something like that. I love when a longso gets angry because all reasons seems to just leave. Well, yeah, the thing is, like, I know these cars aren't brilliant everywhere. Here, they looked pretty much the same as they have done in the last few years. I would argue that actually at Monaco, they're better than what we've seen over the last few years.

They're less on rails. The battery doesn't matter at all. They seem like they're closer to the walls and more unstable. they look fun here at Monaco. But I get it from Alonzo's perspective in that he can't call out the things that he wants to call out. He can't just call out the team or the car or the engine, which, by the way, engine doesn't matter much around Monaco and they're still pretty slow. Kind of tells you the car might be somewhat the issue. But he can't call out those things.

So instead he's got to target hybrid cars. Just pick something he hates and goes, that's the problem. He'll pick something irrelevant next week. like, I don't know, I really hate seagulls. So that's the problem. That's very valid, though. Incredibly valid, I'm on, so. Yeah.

Driver of the session, did you have anyone noted down? I mean, Antigelli, that's pole position, it's Monaco, so he gets a fair shout. I can't believe I'm doing this. I'm giving to Sergio Perez. Big up Perez. You destroyed your team, mate. That was sensational. I am going to go with Antonelli.

Perez deserves a shout. Gasly and Lawson both deserve shouts as well. for Stappen for being so close on the front road too. So there are a number of contenders here, but I will go boringly for the poll man, that being Anzinelli. But the question turns to Sam, can he hold that poll and turn it into a win tomorrow?

Well, the only way to find out is to watch the Grand Prix, and then you have to come and listen to this show afterwards as well. That's the rules. And then what you've done that, you'll know who actually won the Grand Prix, because we get to announce it at the end of the show. It's not optional. You have to be here, by the way.

Formula One called us. Stafar as Manga Ali, he called us and went, you guys get to reveal the podium. Wow. So, well done to Ocon for your win. We haven't agreed that yet. We've got to fight that out. Sorry, mate. Ockon versus Galsley to the death.

Join us. Join us tomorrow when we will discuss everything, and hopefully that is everything that goes on in the Mokoko Grand Prix. Hopefully there's lots to discuss. Let's all do a little dance. So fingers crossed for a really exciting fun time in Mokicca. It would be going to love it. It won't be rubbish, I promise.

Follow us on social media, late-breaking. I find if you want to see some fun bits, some silly clips, get involved in a few question of the weeks. We've got that coming up soon. Make sure you get involved. And then join us on Discord as well, because I'm in the Discord chat. I know the guys jumping as well. We've got the race review going on where we're talking about through the race

the whole time, all the silly, us, all the fun in the build-up as well. Get in there and have a chat with us. There's over 4,000 people having a really good time in there. We appreciate the love. We'll see you tomorrow. In the meantime, I've been Samuel Sage. been Ben Hocking. And remember, keep breaking late.