Edd Straw's 2026 F1 Monaco Grand Prix driver rankings

Monaco is usually a race where qualifying and the first lap of the race decides almost everything for the Formula 1 drivers, but 2026 threw up more than its fair share of chaos on Sunday.

Here is Edd's ranking of the 22 who pitted their wits against Monaco's unforgiving streets (and barriers).

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How do the rankings work? The 22 drivers will be ranked in order of performance from best to worst on each grand prix weekend. This will be based on the full range of criteria, ranging from pace and racecraft to consistency and whether they made key mistakes. How close each driver got to delivering on the maximum performance potential of the car will be an essential consideration.

It’s important to note both that this reflects performance across the entire weekend, cognisant of the fact that qualifying is effectively ‘lap 0’ of the race and key to laying the foundations to the race, and that it is not a ranking of the all-round qualities of each driver. It’s simply about how they performed on a given weekend. Therefore, the ranking will fluctuate significantly from weekend to weekend.

And with each of the 11 cars fundamentally having different performance potential and ‘luck’ (ie factors outside of a driver’s control) contributing to the way the weekend plays out, this ranking will also differ significantly from the overall results.

Started: 1st Finished: 1st

PROS
- Turned the tables after Friday to outpace Russell emphatically.
- Was on top of the tyres and delivered a great Q3 performance. 
- Dealt brilliantly with the risk of two standing starts and a safety car restart and had dominant race pace.

CONS
- You could say that the race showed the Mercedes had a pace advantage, but as Russell showed that meant nothing without making the most of it. 

Verdict: His most complete weekend in F1 to date.

Started: 2nd Finished: DNF

PROS
- Produced an outstanding qualifying performance to come within half-a-tenth of pole position
- Had a clear performance advantage over Hadjar.
- Played no role in the problem that eliminated him.

CONS
- Nothing beyond the fact he had no opportunity to show what was possible in the race. 

Verdict: Brilliant in qualifying, but robbed of race chance.

Started: 10th Finished: 5th

PROS
- The more impressive of the two Racing Bulls drivers.
- Made it to Q3 ahead of potentially quicker cars.
- Didn’t put a foot wrong in the race and would have scored even without others hitting trouble.

CONS
- Others' misfortune and penalties helped his race result, but the car didn't have the pace to have beaten any of them on merit.

Verdict: Fast and executed the weekend superbly.

Started: 3rd Finished: 2nd

PROS
- Was the stronger all-round Ferrari driver.
- Seems more at one with the Ferrari than at any time since he joined.
- Got the best possible result in the circumstances.

CONS
- Speeding penalty is a very minor negative, as while there is significant mitigation 17 drivers were not penalised. 

Verdict: His Ferrari career continues to build momentum.

Started: 9th Finished: 7th

PROS
- Aced qualifying in a car that wasn't at its best with some high-risk laps.
- Drove an error-free race and passed a McLaren on lap one.

CONS
- Picked up a speeding offence, and while he was far from the only one the majority of drivers avoided getting caught out.

Started: 21st Finished: 10th

PROS
- Extracted what he could from the slow and erratic Aston Martin.
- Hung in there in the race and was rewarded with a lucky point, but when you are in the worst car you need good fortune.
- Remained committed on track despite the vagaries of the car.

CONS
- Although his FP1 wall-brushing moment after the car snapped right at the chicane could have been worse, it was still disruptive.
- His ranking potential is fundamentally limited by a car that makes it largely about survival.

Verdict: Made the most of a car that offered nothing but unpredictability.

Started: 11th Finished: 8th

PROS
- Made good progress in practice, before hitting unexpected grip struggles in qualifying.
- Still outqualified Sainz with a 'Hail Mary' lap including a brush with the wall.
- Battled race-long deployment issues to come away with points.

CONS
- Didn't do a great job of being a rolling roadblock, albeit with the mitigation that the deployment problems made him vulnerable. 

Verdict: A strong weekend, although perhaps slightly flustered by power unit troubles.

Started: 12th Finished: DNF

PROS

- Banging in perhaps the lap of the weekend on old tyres to escape Q1 after a late red flag - with no prep lap!
- Drove a good race and played the team game when he needed to. 
- Was running 10th before Hulkenberg put him out.

CONS
- Possibly could have avoided the contact that cost him a points finish.
- Didn’t make the most of Q2.

Verdict: A largely good weekend went unrewarded.

Started: 7th Finished: 4th

PROS
- Given the pace of the McLaren and the strategy, fourth was a decent result.
- Although he looked a touch slower than Norris, he executed Q3 better.

CONS
- Looked marginally the slower McLaren driver. 
- Fortune played its part in his result.
- Picked up a speeding penalty, which has to be a small negative despite the mitigating circumstances. 

Verdict: A good, but not stellar, weekend.

Started: 5th Finished: 3rd

PROS
- Recovered what ground he could after his FP1 shunt.
- Q2 pace in particular indicated he had decent underlying speed.
- Despite his frantic radio messages, dealt well with myriad engine problems and the loss of first gear in the race.

CONS
- FP1 shunt at the second swimming pool chicane put him on the back foot.
- Wasn't at Verstappen's level.

Verdict: A decent recovery from Friday, especially given his power unit troubles.

Started: 8th Finished: DNF

PROS
- Seemed to have a slight underlying pace advantage over Piastri. 
- Would have claimed a solid result without the power unit problems that put him out.
- Lost track time in FP2 through no fault of his own. 

CONS
- Mistake at the chicane on his final Q3 run.
- Perhaps a little optimistic in trying to get around Piastri at Turn 1, allowing Gasly to get past at the start, although being on the outside there was by circumstance not choice.

Verdict: Didn't make the most of his pace even before problems kicked in.

Started: 15th Finished: 6th

PROS
- Had a clean weekend on his first Monaco Grand Prix outing. 
- Capitalised on Albon's deployment struggles to make an on-track pass.

CONS
- Always looked to be marginally off Lawson's outright pace. 
- Didn't make the best of Q2.

Verdict: A decent weekend, but leant heavily on luck on Sunday.

Started: 17th Finished: 9th

PROS
- A clean race from a lowly grid position allowed him to benefit from others' misfortune.
- Was plenty quick enough to have escaped Q1, but was tripped up by red-flag timing.

CONS
- Looked marginally the slower Haas driver in terms of underlying pace. 
- Reliant on plenty of luck to have picked up points.

Verdict: Misfortune played its part, but far from his Monaco best.

Started: 6th Finished: 12th

PROS
- Kept it clean.
- Would at least have salvaged third but for the drivethrough penalty that was a result of confusion. 

CONS
- Couldn't match his team-mate's pace, especially in qualifying.
- Struggled with getting the tyres in the right window across a qualifying lap.
- Speeding penalty cost him, but that was compounded by the pitstop confusion.

Verdict: Was well short of the car's potential.

Started: 18th Finished: 15th

PROS
- Comprehensively outpaced team-mate Bottas.
- Came close to reaching Q2, and finished 10th on the road before being hit with a penalty.
- Managed brake troubles well, and had a great restart lap.

CONS
- Earning two penalties for lining up on the grid incorrectly cost a point, with the first where he parked in the wrong grid box a careless error.

Verdict: Led the line for Cadillac, but grid box imprecision was careless.

Started: 4th Finished: DNF

PROS
- In fits and starts showed good pace and that final Q3 lap flirted with pole.
- Flashes of real pace despite ongoing brake problems, which he characterised as "on the front brakes it broke a lot more than I thought and in the rear brakes it had no deceleration at all".

CONS
- Errors in qualifying, including a wall strike, meant he ended up fourth on the grid. 
- Brakes and track surface contributed to his crash, but Leclerc still had a hand in that.
- In the same machinery, never looked as comfortable as Hamilton.

Verdict: Brake problems muddy the water, but there was a lot more in the car.

Started: 19th Finished: DNF

PROS
- Fundamentally, looked quick and Q1 elimination was down to the timing of the red flag.
- Based on the first Q1 runs, was plenty fast enough for Q2 and 0.138s quicker than Ocon. 

CONS
- Massenet shunt in FP3, which he described as "the strangest crash I've ever had", was a setback and perhaps could have been avoided had he factored in he being wider than usual thanks to going round a slower car.
- Losing his front wing on the first lap was unfortunate, but potentially avoidable.

Verdict: Couldn't harness his speed but there were many mitigating factors.

Started: 14th Finished: 14th

PROS
- Considering his struggles, to be 0.233s off Gasly in Q2 wasn't bad. 
- There was little he could do in the race given he spent most of it in traffic.

CONS
- Struggled all weekend for pace thanks to lack of confidence on the brakes and was never at Gasly's level.
- Had a minor crash at the hairpin in FP3 and risked damage by unnecessarily hitting Sainz after the late restart.
- Pitlane speeding penalty, albeit by just 0.1km/h.

Verdict: Never seemed confident in the car.

Started: 13th Finished: 13th

PROS
- His underlying pace was good enough to have a strong weekend. 
- Much of the race was executed well, it's just that he was stuck in traffic after early pitstop and therefore was backed up. 
- Finished ninth on the road, before his penalty. 

CONS
- Didn't get the most out of the car in Q2, albeit with a lack of grip the culprit.
- While the Sainz incident that earned him a penalty was unfortunate given it followed from trying to avoid Ocon, it was costly and potentially avoidable had he been more cautious.

Verdict: Q2 and late-race restart let him down.

Started: 20th Finished: DNF

PROS
- Kept it clean and tidy and out of the wall, even when braking troubles struck.

CONS
- Well off his team-mate's pace.
- The race was short-lived, but through no fault of his own. 

Verdict: Unfortunate, but again badly lacked pace.

Started: 22nd Finished: DNF

PROS
- Not a great deal, but given he was in the worst car in the field that's understandable.

CONS
- Crashed out of the race at the last corner, albeit as a result of a combination of the track breakup at Turn 19 and the push effect of the engine.
- Couldn't get as much out of the car as Alonso.

Verdict: There is unexploited pace even in the badly limited Aston Martin.

Started: pits Finished: 11th

PROS
- Underlying pace was strong, and was trending to being the top Audi in qualifying before it went wrong in Q1.
- Survived in a difficult race to finish 11th after an unfortunate pitlane start.

CONS
- As he pointed out, clipping the barrier at the nouvelle chicane in Q1 was a needless blunder given he didn't need to take risks.
- Enforced pitlane start further limited the potential to impress in the race.

Verdict: Q1 blunder ruined a promising weekend.