Verstappen hails ‘extremely positive’ turnaround for Red Bull after narrowly missing out on Monaco pole

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was pleasantly surprised after Saturday afternoon’s Qualifying session in Monaco, having recovered from a tricky final practice outing to challenge for pole position.

Verstappen wound up a distant fifth in FP3, almost a second away from pace-setting Mercedes rival Kimi Antonelli, but emerged as the young Italian’s nearest challenger in the all-important grid-deciding hour.

In the end, just four hundredths of a second separated the pair in Antonelli’s favour, with Ferrari drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, the other Red Bull of Isack Hadjar, and George Russell’s Silver Arrow rounding out the top five.

Asked for his reaction after hopping out of the car, Verstappen said: “If you would’ve told me yesterday [that I would] be on the front row, I definitely would’ve taken it.

“Also [in final practice] this morning, I think we had some difficulties with the car, so heading into Qualifying and being up there I think was extremely positive.

“Overall, of course, I’m very happy with how Qualifying went, how all the laps went, even though I had to deal with all the traffic and the walls.”

Expanding on the challenge of driving F1’s 2026-specification cars around the streets of Monte Carlo, the four-time World Champion commented: “They are more on edge than the last few years, and also with the power that kicks in, driveability and shifts are all a bit different.

“Once you get on top of it and get a clean lap out of it, especially in Qualifying you’re flat-out and on the limit, it’s very rewarding when it goes well.”

In terms of his chances on Sunday, Verstappen understandably highlighted the importance of the run down to the first corner – while referencing Ferrari’s generally strong getaways so far this season.

“Let’s see in the start – these cars are quite complicated to start,” he added. “I have two cars behind me that start quite well, but we’ll see. This was a good day, and I definitely enjoyed it in Qualifying.”