Verstappen hails a massive turnaround in Monaco

It is honestly hard to believe what Max Verstappen pulled off in Monaco. After ending the final practice session in a distant fifth, looking nearly a second off the pace set by Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli, the Red Bull driver completely flipped the script when it actually mattered.

He missed out on the top spot by a mere four hundredths of a second, cementing a front-row start in a field that saw Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc of Ferrari, his Red Bull teammate Isack Hadjar, and George Russell in the other Mercedes rounding out the top five. Verstappen was blunt about the shift in fortunes: “If you would’ve told me yesterday [that I would] be on the front row, I definitely would’ve taken it.”

Driving these 2026-spec beasts on the tight streets of Monte Carlo is a knife-edge experience, and Verstappen was quick to admit that the power delivery and shifts are a different animal entirely. He heads into Sunday knowing the start is the critical moment, especially with two hungry Ferrari machines breathing down his neck. Still, he walked away from the session clearly satisfied with the recovery of his car.