F1 2023 results: Qualifying results from the Monaco Grand Prix

Thomas Maher 27 May 2023 3:35 PM

Red Bull's Sergio Perez on track at the Monaco Grand Prix. Monte Carlo, May 2023.

Here are the complete results from the most important qualifying session of the F1 season, the Monaco Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen has taken pole position with a spell-binding final flying lap in qualifying, setting an incredible final sector time to snatch top spot away from Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin.

In what was a flurry of activity at the end of Q3, Alonso had taken provisional pole away from Charles Leclerc who himself had just taken the same spot away from Esteban Ocon.

But Verstappen, who had been down through the first two sectors, went three-tenths of a second quicker than Alonso to take pole position in Monaco for the first time in his career, with the Aston Martin taking the other front row slot.

Leclerc was set to start from third, but a post-session three-place grid drop for impeding Lando Norris in Q3 scuppered those plans.

Ocon then starts P3, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in fourth ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Leclerc.

The top 10 was rounded out by Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, Mercedes’ George Russell, AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, and McLaren’s Lando Norris – the British driver fortunate to make it into Q3 after hitting the barriers at the end of Q2. Leaving the chicane, Norris struck the barrier with his left-front wheel and damaged his suspension. This resulted in a secondary collision at Tabac before Norris returned into the pits to get his car repaired.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was eliminated from Q2 down in 11th place, ahead of AlphaTauri’s Nyck De Vries, eliminated down in 12th, as was Williams’ Alex Albon, while Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was a surprise elimination in 14th ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas.

Stroll also may be in trouble as the Canadian driver failed to stop at the FIA weighbridge on his way into the pits, returning to the garage and having the fans fitted to his car before being wheeled back in.

Verstappen also went quickest in the first part of qualifying, which proved a frenetic 18-minute session with 20 cars scrabbling for track space around the short circuit.

The steady track evolution led to some unusual names at the front, with AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda finishing second as he’d set the quickest time just before Verstappen wrested top spot from his stablemate.

Alex Albon was third for Williams, while Carlos Sainz left it late to rise from the drop zone to finish in fourth place.

Williams’ Logan Sargeant was one of the five drivers eliminated, as were the two Haas drivers Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg and Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu.

But the biggest scalp from Q1 was undoubtedly Sergio Perez. With just seven minutes elapsed in the qualifying session, the Mexican brought out the red flags as the Red Bull driver misjudged his braking into Ste. Devote and hit the barriers hard.

The damage was enough to eliminate Perez immediately, with the session neutralised in order to allow the marshals a chance to recover the car from the middle of the track.