Norris and Leclerc among drivers concerned for 22-car Monaco GP Qualifying

Thanks to Cadillac's addition as F1's eleventh team this season, the sport's 'Jewel in the Crown' will see 22 cars race around the narrow streets of Monaco for the first time since 2016. Then, it was another American team, Haas, introduced as the eleventh team that year, with the iconic race won in dramatic style against Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo.

Even with just 20 cars on the grid, Monaco is notoriously difficult when it comes to navigating traffic and overtaking, but drivers such as Norris and Leclerc have never faced the daunting task of Monaco GP qualifying with two extra cars on the field.

Speaking at Thursday's pre-race press conference, Norris was asked how challenging Q1 in particular will be for the drivers on Saturday. Norris said: "Probably pretty [challenging]. I mean, well, I have three in a practice session with a lot more cars on track. It’ll be tough. It’s already been tough in previous years with people not getting out of the way in the right places and things. It’s tricky."

The 2025 world champion then referenced the idea of changing the Qualifying format at Monaco, specifically in the form of splitting the grid into two - something his former McLaren teammate Carlos Sainz has also called for heading into this weekend.

Norris added: "The thing is when you do split it up into other sessions, you have two sessions, someone’s always going to be unhappy because you’re either going to be the first group and complain about the second group, or vice versa. So, I think you get more people complaining in some essence if you split it up into two different sessions.

"But people don’t seem to do that very often…. Remember a couple of years ago?" Norris jokingly referencing Leclerc's three-place grid penalty for blocking him at the 2023 race. The McLaren driver continued: "So, I don’t think it’s going to be terrible, but only if people get out of the way in the correct places and things like that. As soon as people try and take the mick with things, then it starts to become a big problem."

Leclerc, meanwhile, was adamant the increased number of cars will be an issue for drivers during Qualifying at his home race. The Ferrari driver explained that drivers can lose time even when three to four seconds behind the car ahead.

The Monegasque said: "I think it’s a problem. I mean, 22 cars on such a short track I think will be quite tricky, especially because with these cars, I mean, a bit less now, still whenever you are like three, four seconds on tracks like this, you lose a bit of time. So it’s going to be tricky, but it’s the same for everybody and we’ll have to adapt to it. But it’s not ideal for Q1, I think."

Meanwhile, Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto backed up Norris, but believes the drivers can still "get away with it" despite the increased cars on-track. Bortoleto said: "Lando said it all for me. If people look at the mirrors and listen to the radio and good communication, you can get away with 22 cars on track. F3 it’s 30 cars. FRECA a few years ago it was 37 in FP, so it was much worse in other series. I think we can get away with it."