At most circuits, Saturday sets up Sunday. At Monaco, it very nearly decides it: the streets are so narrow that overtaking is almost impossible, so whoever takes pole on Saturday usually wins on Sunday. That is why teams throw everything at qualifying, and why one lap on Saturday afternoon can matter as much as the whole race.
F1 qualifying decides the starting order for the race, and it runs as a three-part knockout. Over three sessions, called Q1, Q2 and Q3, the field is trimmed down until only the fastest ten fight for pole position. The car quickest across the whole session starts first; everyone else lines up in the order they were knocked out.
Here is exactly how it works, including what changed for 2026 now that the grid has grown to 22 cars.
