2026 Monaco Grand Prix – McLaren Qualifying Report

Circuit de Monaco, Saturday, 6 June

Find out what happened during Qualifying in Monaco and get the thoughts of McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, as well as Team Principal, Andrea Stella

Despite improvements from the previous day’s running thanks to everybody trackside and in Woking, Saturday Qualifying in Monte Carlo demonstrated the pattern seen throughout this weekend’s practice sessions with the MCL40 realistically not in a position to compete for the top three places.

Following Lando’s car stopping on track in yesterday’s Free Practice 2 session, the team carried out extensive work during the night ahead of today's running. Therefore, to investigate and address the issue experienced comprehensively, the team elected to break curfew last night and replace the wiring harness and also changed the ESME pack within the permitted allocation.

Lando and the team selected to run a traditional plan throughout the final practice session in order to secure valuable track time at the Circuit de Monaco ahea d of Qualifying. Working on Soft runs across his session, Lando was able to complete 24 laps despite a late Red Flag interruption towards the end of FP3.

Oscar also secured time on track, running the Soft tyre throughout the hour just like his teammate. The Australian therefore finished Friday practice with 20 laps to his name resulting in both drivers having important learnings and data collection to work with in the pursuit of further positive steps forward.

As witnessed in every Monaco session so far this weekend, Saturday afternoon’s Qualifying session saw a Red Flag in the opening Q1 round. Regardless of this halt to the action, Lando and Oscar were able to advance through both Q1 and Q2 to make the final 10 qualifiers.

Despite improvements to both Oscar and Lando’s overall relative pace in the transition from Practice to Qualifying, neither side of the garage was able to perform the perfect lap in Q3. This resulted in both cars finishing in a Qualifying position on the fourth row, instead of a grid spot that represents the current performance in the MCL40.

Racing in the Principality is always unique with no room for mistakes. The unpredictability of the Grand Prix requires the team to remain patient and maximise any opportunities that may arise tomorrow. The whole team will make sure that preparation and execution are completed to the highest level in order to seek opportunities to gain positions and reward the team’s efforts during this challenging weekend.

“This has not been an easy weekend for us at all. We came here expecting a challenge, and it has definitely been one. The fundamental issue has been a general lack of grip, and while we've made some progress since Friday and improved the balance of the car, we're still lacking the speed. From my side, I think we got as much out of the car as we could in Qualifying and we put together some decent laps.

“Looking ahead to the race, we have to be realistic. This circuit is notoriously difficult for overtaking, and we don't expect that to change. Our focus will be on executing a clean strategy and managing the car as best we can. Anything can happen in Monaco, so let's see what we can do.”

“We’ve been on the back foot all weekend and Qualifying showed that. My laps were strong until the last one, where I pushed a bit too much trying to find three tenths and locked up. We did make some gains from practice and the earlier sessions looked better, but that was partly because the faster cars were more conservative while we were already flat out.

“We know what’s missing, and it’s better to recognise it now rather than later in the season. Tomorrow we’ll be aggressive on strategy and ready to take chances with Safety Cars or anything that comes our way, but overtaking is tough here, so we have to be realistic. The focus is on improving the car, getting the rear stability and downforce we need, so we can translate the kind of pace we had in Miami to tracks like Barcelona.”

Andrea Stella

Team Principal

“Today’s result is not quite what we were aiming for, as we felt a place on the third row was realistically within our reach. We started the weekend on the back foot yesterday, struggling with overall grip and car performance. However, thanks to the overnight work from our drivers, trackside engineers, and the support team back at the factory, we made significant steps forward with the setup.

“That progression was clear in Q1 and Q2, where the car appeared to be much more competitive, relatively. Unfortunately, we didn’t quite manage to put it all together in Q3. Lando was on a very strong final lap and was up by a couple of tenths, but a lock-up at the chicane meant we left some performance on the table. As a result, we will lock out the fourth row for tomorrow's race. It’s clear this specific circuit configuration doesn't entirely suit our car's characteristics, and we have work to do to improve in these conditions.

“Most importantly, I want to say a massive thank you to our mechanics. Following an on-track stoppage during practice, they worked tirelessly until 4:00 AM to repair the car and investigate the issue. Monaco is always an exhausting, logistically challenging weekend, and they did an exceptional job under immense pressure.

“Overtaking in Monaco is notoriously difficult, but as we know, this race is unpredictable. We need to be patient, stay sharp, and ensure we are ready to maximise any opportunities, be it at the start or through a Safety Car, to repay the team's hard work with a strong haul of points tomorrow.”