Leclerc records his third pole position at home, McLaren qualify with both cars in the top four at Monaco for the first time since 2008 and Albon records Williams’ first Q3 appearance in Monaco since 2012. Here are the facts and statistics from qualifying at the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix.
LECLERC RECORDS HOME POLE AT 2024 MONACO GRAND PRIX
Charles Leclerc took pole position for the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix, recording the 24th pole position of his Formula 1 career. This was Leclerc’s first pole position since the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix.
The 2024 Monaco Grand Prix marks the third time that Leclerc has recorded a pole position at his home event. It’s his third Monaco Grand Prix pole in the last four years.
Leclerc’s pole at the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix marked the 250th pole position for Ferrari in Formula 1. They are the first constructor to reach the milestone.
This was Ferrari’s 13th Monaco Grand Prix pole position, extending their record as the team with the most poles at Circuit de Monaco. Ferrari also overtook Renault as the most successful engine manufacturer in qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix, recording the 13th pole for a Ferrari-powered car.
Recording his 24th pole position with Ferrari, Leclerc’s pole sees him overtake Niki Lauda in the list of drivers who’ve taken the most poles with the team. Only Michael Schumacher now sits ahead of Leclerc on the list.
This was Leclerc’s fourth front row qualification of the year to date.
Leclerc’s pole position time – a 1:10.270 – was only 0.104 seconds slower than the Track Record at Circuit de Monaco, which was set by Lewis Hamilton in 2019.
IN THE TOP 10
Oscar Piastri qualified on the front row for the second weekend in a row. Unlike the Imola race – where he picked up a grid penalty – Piastri will actually start the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix from the front row of the grid. It makes this the 100th Grand Prix for which an Australian driver has started on the front row.
Piastri recorded McLaren’s first front row qualification at the Monaco Grand Prix since 2011, when Jenson Button qualified in second place.
Carlos Sainz qualified in third place, maintaining his 100% Q3 appearance rate at the Monaco Grand Prix. He is one of five drivers with a 100% Q3 rate at Circuit de Monaco, along with Nico Robserg, Mark Webber, Michael Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya.
For the first time since 2017, both McLaren drivers progressed to Q3 at the Monaco Grand Prix. It was the first time since 2008 that both McLaren drivers qualified in the top four for the event.
With fourth place, Lando Norris qualified in the top five for a sixth consecutive Grand Prix. It marks his best Monaco Grand Prix qualifying result to date.
Setting the fifth fastest time in qualifying for the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix, George Russell recorded his first top five qualifying result since the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, for which he qualified third.
Max Verstappen’s record-equalling run of eight consecutive pole positions came to an end at the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix. He could qualify no higher than sixth. This was the first time he failed to qualify in the top five since the 2023 United States Grand Prix, where he also qualified sixth.
This is the first Monaco Grand Prix since 2008 for which neither Red Bull driver has qualified in the top five positions.
With seventh place in qualifying for the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton equalled his best qualifying result of the year to date. He also set the seventh fastest time in Q3 at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Hamilton’s 2019 pole remains the last time he qualified in the top five for the Monaco Grand Prix.
Yuki Tsunoda reached Q3 for the sixth time in the last seven races. This is the first time since the end of the 2021 season that Tsunoda has qualified in the top eight at consecutive races.
After seven consecutive Q2 exits in the first seven races of the year, Alex Albon finally recorded Williams’ first Q3 appearance of the season at the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix.
Albon became the first Williams driver to reach Q3 at the Monaco Grand Prix since Pastor Maldonado in 2012.
Ninth place is Albon’s best Monaco Grand Prix qualifying performance to date and his first Q3 appearance at the Monaco Grand Prix since 2019, when he was driving for Toro Rosso.
Pierre Gasly recorded Alpine’s first Q3 appearance of the season in qualifying for the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix.
2022 remains the only time in his six Monaco Grand Prix appearances that Gasly has failed to qualify in the top ten.
OUT IN Q2
Although he missed out on a place in Q3, Esteban Ocon recorded his best qualifying result of the year to date with 11th place.
Qualifying 12th, Nico Hulkenberg missed out on Q3 for the first time in three races.
Lance Stroll qualified 14th, out-qualifying his team-mate for a third successive race. It’s the first time he’s out-qualified his team-mate at three races in a row since the 2022 Hungarian, Belgian and Dutch Grands Prix.
Stroll remains yet to reach Q3 on any of his seven Monaco Grand Prix qualifying appearances. This was the first time he out-qualified a team-mate in Monaco.
This was the first time since 2019 that neither of the Silverstone-based team’s drivers reached Q3 at the Monaco Grand Prix.
Both Haas cars were eliminated in Q2 at the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix. However, due to a technical compliance failure, both Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen were disqualified from the qualifying session and will therefore start the race from the pit lane.
OUT IN Q1
Qualifying a lowly 18th, Sergio Perez recorded his first Q1 exit since the 2023 British Grand Prix.
2024 is the second year in a row in which Perez has been eliminated in Q1 at the Monaco Grand Prix.
18th place is Perez’s worst qualifying result since qualifying 20th for last year’s Monaco Grand Prix.
In total, this was Red Bull’s fourth Q1 elimination at the Monaco Grand Prix. Max Verstappen was out in Q1 in both 2016 and 2018, while Perez has been out in Q1 in the last two seasons.
Fernando Alonso was eliminated in Q1 for a second consecutive race. This is the first time he has recorded Q1 exits at two races in a row since the 2018 Japanese and United States Grand Prix weekends.
The 2024 Monaco Grand Prix marks Alonso’s third Q1 exit in the principality. He was also out in Q1 at the Monaco Grand Prix in both 2010 and 2021.
Alonso has now failed to reach Q3 at all of the last three events. It’s the first time he’s failed to qualify in the top ten at three races in a row since the 2021 United States, Mexico City and Sao Paulo Grands Prix, as well as the first time he’s missed out on Q3 at three consecutive races since his comeback to F1.
Qualifying 17th for the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix, Logan Sargeant equalled his best qualifying result of the year to date. He also qualified 17th for the Miami Grand Prix.
Sauber locked out the back row for the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix, recording their first double Q1 exit at the event since 2017.
This was Sauber’s third consecutive double Q1 exit, as well as the team’s fifth double Q1 exit so far in the 2024 season.
With 19th place, Valtteri Bottas recorded his worst qualifying result of the season to date. This was Bottas’ first Q1 exit at the Monaco Grand Prix since 2015.
Zhou Guanyu qualified in 20th place for the fourth time in 2024. He continued his 100% Q1 exit rate at the Monaco Grand Prix, having now exited in Q1 on all three appearances at the event.
