Antonelli survives late Monaco drama to claim fifth straight win

What appeared set to be another processional Monaco Grand Prix erupted into chaos in the closing stages, when separate crashes for Lance Stroll and Charles Leclerc at the final corner exposed track surface issues and brought out two safety cars.

The race was eventually red-flagged to allow repairs to the circuit, resulting in a 45-minute delay before a standing restart set up an eight-lap sprint to the finish.

Antonelli survived the second start and immediately re-established control, holding off Lewis Hamilton by 6.2 seconds to take victory.

Having led every lap and set the fastest lap, the Italian also secured the first grand slam of his Formula 1 career and became the first Italian to win in Monaco since Jarno Trulli in 2004.

 

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Isack Hadjar claimed the final podium position and his first for Red Bull, despite finishing behind Pierre Gasly on track, with the Alpine driver dropping to seventh after two separate penalties.

His podium is under threat, however, with the Frenchman under investigation for a possible red flag infringement, opening the door for Oscar Piastri to potentially be promoted.

Piastri had an uneventful afternoon, finishing fifth on the road before being promoted to fourth after Gasly’s penalty, providing some consolation for McLaren in their 1000th Grand Prix, after another disastrous afternoon for defending world champion Lando Norris.

The British driver retired mid-race with another apparent power unit issue, marking his first career back-to-back DNF and putting his title defence on life support.

It wasn’t just Norris who suffered a major blow to championship hopes, with Max Verstappen and George Russell joining him and Leclerc in failing to score points, with Verstappen also failing to finish.

Starting on the front row, Verstappen stalled at the lights and retired at the end of the opening lap, while Russell finished 13th after a race heavily compromised by two separate penalties.

The misfortune for the championship contenders proved a major boost for Liam Lawson, who survived a pre-race scare to finish a superb fifth, equalling his career-best result and helping deliver a strong day for Racing Bulls, with teammate Arvid Lindblad coming home sixth.

Alex Albon finished eighth for Williams ahead of the Haas of Esteban Ocon, while Sergio Perez survived the chaos to give Cadillac their first ever point in F1 with 10th place, meaning nine different teams were represented in the top 10.

In winning the race, Antonelli became just the 10th Formula 1 driver in history to win five consecutive Grands Prix, while extending his own record for the most consecutive victories from the start of a driver’s winning career.

The result, combined with a nightmare day for his title rivals, further extended his championship lead, with the Italian now holding a 66-point advantage over Hamilton, who moved up to second after his second consecutive runner-up finish.

Antonelli said he was delighted with what he described as an “incredible” win.

“It’s been an incredible weekend. Incredible race,” he said.

“It was one of those days where we had some incredible pace and it was just coming all so natural. And the car was feeling incredible.

“It just was giving me the confidence to push. So it was a very enjoyable day.”

He said he was hoping that the race would be called off with the late stoppage, but did what he could to maintain his lead on the restart.

“I wasn’t super keen on restarting as well, because I didn’t really want to restart,” he explained.

“But then once the notification came out, I just gathered my emotion, my thoughts, and I started to focus again. Looked at some data and so on and just tried to refocus on restarting. And then trying to get the tyres in the right temperature.

“And then once I got away, I knew I was going to make it into P1 into the first corner.

“And then from that point on, I just enjoyed the last few laps.”

Antonelli added that despite his large gap in the championship, there was still a long way to go.

“The job’s not finished. It’s still a long season,” he said.

“We’re going to keep pushing. Keep raising the bar. And the goal is to keep performing like this.”

Hamilton also expressed satisfaction with his result, saying he was encouraged by the progression of his car over recent races.

“I think we’ve been progressing over the past months,” he said.

“We can’t quite keep up with them just yet. And it’s probably going to take a lot of work for us to get to their level.

“But to get another second place is such a great feeling, especially in Monaco under the trickiest conditions.

“It was the hardest conditions out there. So, yeah, I’ll definitely take it.”

He explained the difficulties were down to a mix of tyres and downforce limitations.

“It’s really the car. The car is good, but we need more downforce ultimately,” he said.

“I think just with the tyres, with the different scenarios we had out there, I ran out of tyres quite early in the first stint.

“And then I was on that long second stint. And these tyres aren’t particularly great just over a long stint. So holding onto that was going to be tough.

“But then once we had to slow down under the safety car you lose all temperature. And you saw it with other drivers out there that it was really hard to stay on track.

“So I think just with all the different things that have been thrown on us, it was massively challenging.

“But really grateful for the day.”

Hadjar, meanwhile, said he was pleased with the podium despite battling several issues throughout the race.

“We got a clean start. We were managing the race and then within the first 10/15 laps, I started having massive driveability issues,” he explained.

“And around here, if there’s one track you don’t want that, it’s here.

“So it was incredibly challenging having to go 60 laps like that. And even towards the end I was still lacking power on the restart.”

He added that he had a strong restart but still struggled in the closing laps.

“My restart I felt like I had a good start and suddenly I had a hole and I had lost two places,” he said.

“But I knew the cars ahead had a penalty, but I had limited power.

“I never had to send it that much in my life through the corners to stay within five seconds of Pierre.

“But it’s an outstanding weekend considering how it started in FP1. I had no confidence to get back up.

“But we did it. So I’m happy.”

Verstappen’s issues were immediate, with the Dutchman failing to get away at the start, stalling as the lights went out while those behind reacted sharply to avoid contact.

 

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As Verstappen dropped to the back, Antonelli enjoyed a dream launch, vaulting into the lead and giving Mercedes their first opening-lap lead of the 2026 season.

Hamilton and Leclerc slotted into second and third, while Russell was immediately noted for being out of position at the start.

Despite the investigation, he gained a place to fifth, with Piastri also moving up to sixth due to Verstappen’s issue.

Verstappen’s afternoon ended soon after, as the four-time champion limped back to the pits and retired, later confirming an engine issue.

Up front, Antonelli extended his lead to 2.6s after the first lap and more than four seconds by the end of lap five.

Russell was later cleared of any start infringement, with stewards taking no further action, although he would soon face other issues around penalties.

The race soon settled into its Monaco rhythm, with Antonelli steadily extending his advantage over Hamilton to 5.2 seconds after 10 laps.

Hamilton increased his gap to Leclerc, with the Ferrari driver unable to match his pace and dropping back while fending off Hadjar.

Hamilton reduced the gap to under three seconds by lap 18, reporting early degradation on his medium tyres, while Valtteri Bottas became the second retirement of the race after pulling into the pits with a technical issue on lap 19.

Hadjar simultaneously came under pressure from Russell while reporting braking issues and warning his team over radio that “something is going to explode”.

The Frenchman then locked up at the chicane on lap 22 but remained ahead of Russell as overtaking once again remained near impossible around the principality, with Russell attacking at the chicane over the next laps but unable to find a way through.

Behind them, Norris found himself stuck behind Gasly’s Alpine and also unable to find a way past, as Antonelli extended his lead over Hamilton beyond 10 seconds.

On lap 28, Hadjar ran straight on at the chicane, infuriating Russell who demanded he be given the position after gaining an advantage, but Hadjar held position and no warning or penalty was given.

Hamilton pitted from second on lap 29 for hard tyres, rejoining comfortably ahead of the battling group, although he was later handed a five-second penalty for pit lane speeding, extending Antonelli’s advantage.

Oliver Bearman became the third retirement at the same time after pulling his Haas into the garage with ongoing issues, while Russell then pitted on lap 32 to attempt the undercut, dropping into traffic but ahead of Lawson in ninth place.

The strategy worked initially, with Hadjar’s later stop leaving him behind Russell on the road, though Russell was then also penalised for pit lane speeding, dropping him back behind on aggregate.

Having yet to pit, Norris had emerged ahead of the pair on track but began to report power issues as McLaren worked to manage the problem, with the situation easing slightly by lap 36.

At this stage Leclerc pitted, rejoining in third after his stop, still behind Hamilton but crucially maintaining a buffer of around five seconds to be second on track once Hamilton’s penalty was applied.

Ahead of the Ferrari pair, Antonelli came in on lap 37 for hard tyres and rejoined with a dominant 17-second lead over Hamilton.

Norris returned to Gasly’s gearbox on lap 39 while still managing power concerns, as Russell joined the fight, with Piastri well clear ahead of them.

McLaren then instructed Norris to back off Gasly to help Piastri gain track position over the group, with the Australian pushing his advantage to over 26 seconds at the time.

Norris’ race then unravelled, as he was told to retire on lap 46, marking his second consecutive DNF.

Piastri pitted on lap 49, rejoining behind Russell and Hadjar, but also picked up a five-second pit lane speeding penalty, joining a long list of drivers penalised for the same offence.

On lap 52, Antonelli led Hamilton by 22 seconds, with the Italian reporting a minor engine de-rate on lap 57, but Mercedes confirmed there was no concern.

The race then erupted late when Stroll crashed at the final corner, triggering a safety car and a flurry of pit stops.

Antonelli had a slight moment of drama during the stop phase with a slow pit stop due to a tyre issue, creating brief tension in the Mercedes garage, compounded by Russell serving his penalty incorrectly, which resulted in a further drive-through penalty and ultimately dropped him out of the points.

 

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After only six laps on circuit, the safety car returned to the pits before Leclerc ended up in the wall, with race control eventually red-flagging the session for circuit repairs.

After a 45-minute delay, the race resumed with an eight-lap sprint to the finish.

Antonelli launched cleanly once again to hold the lead from Hamilton, while Russell attempted to slow the field behind to mitigate his penalty.

Behind them, drama struck immediately at the hairpin as Nico Hulkenberg hit Carlos Sainz, forcing the Spaniard’s retirement and earning Hulkenberg a penalty.

Russell then served his drive-through and dropped down the order, with other positions largely held in the closing laps as Antonelli controlled the restart to take victory, the order ultimately shaped by penalties and late chaos.

Formula 1 now heads to the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix next weekend.

Results: Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix