Kimi Antonelli claimed his first Monaco Grand Prix pole position, edging championship rival Max Verstappen by just 0.043 seconds in qualifying. The Mercedes driver’s achievement puts him in the coveted starting spot for Sunday’s race around the principality’s legendary street circuit, where overtaking opportunities remain extremely limited despite Formula 1’s revised car regulations this season.
When asked about advice for the pole-sitter, Verstappen couldn’t resist offering some playful counsel that would clearly benefit his own starting position. “So, when the lights go out, you wait one second. That’s my advice,” the Red Bull driver quipped. Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, starting from third, escalated the jest by suggesting: “Yeah, I’m one step behind, so two seconds.”
Antonelli has struggled with race starts throughout the current campaign, losing multiple positions at the launch of every grand prix until showing improvement in Montreal. The Italian acknowledged the challenge ahead, noting Monaco’s particularly short run to Turn 1. “It’s a pretty short run into Turn 1 in Monaco, so just need to get a clean start, don’t try to do the magic start, and then we’ll see from there,” he explained.
Despite F1’s introduction of narrower and shorter cars designed to improve racing, both Antonelli and Verstappen expressed skepticism about increased overtaking opportunities in Monaco. Verstappen pointed to the lack of action in support categories as evidence, stating: “Just look at the other categories, right, even F2, F3, it’s very hard. It’s just a little bit the layout, the curvature of some corners, they don’t lend to even have a go because you can easily cover it off.” The last on-track overtake for the lead beyond lap one in Monaco occurred in 1996 when Jean Alesi passed Damon Hill’s Williams.