Ferrari named Monaco pole favorite by McLaren

Ferrari has emerged as the surprise favorite for pole position at the Monaco Grand Prix, with McLaren openly backing the SF-26 as the car to beat despite Mercedes winning every race so far this season.

Lando Norris, speaking to media including RacingNews365 after the Canadian Grand Prix, said: “Honestly, I think the Ferrari will be on pole next weekend in Monaco.” He pointed to a clear strength in the Scuderia package, adding that Ferrari’s “low-speed performance is far better than everyone else.”

That view was reinforced by McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, who said the data from Montreal pointed in the same direction. Stella said Ferrari was “extremely competitive in the corners,” particularly in the first sector in Canada, and added that the car’s main losses come on the straights. With very little straight-line running in Monte Carlo, he said, “Lando is right to consider Ferrari favorite for pole position.”

Ferrari’s case for Monaco grew stronger in Canada, where Lewis Hamilton finished second even though the team still appears to be carrying a straight-line deficit. Hamilton said afterward that the result was especially encouraging because Montreal is so sensitive to top speed. “Given that Montreal is a circuit where top speed is essential and we still managed to get that result, that gives me a lot of hope for what’s next,” he said.

Hamilton also made clear where Ferrari still trails its rivals. “We have less power than the others around us,” he said in Montreal. “Even when we use overboost, the others still have more power on the straights.” That weakness has limited Ferrari on power-dependent tracks, but Monaco’s slow-speed layout should expose it far less than most circuits on the calendar.

That is what makes the Monaco picture so striking. Mercedes has taken pole position and victory in all five grands prix this season, with Kimi Antonelli winning four of them and building a 43-point lead over George Russell in the drivers’ standings. Even so, McLaren’s reading after Canada is that Ferrari, not the unbeaten championship leader, now sets the benchmark over one lap in the Principality.