Kimi Antonelli Wins Monaco Grand Prix to Extend F1 Championship Lead

Teenage sensation Kimi Antonelli stretched his winning run to five races by overcoming a late-race restart to see off 7-time world champion Lewis Hamilton for a superb Monaco Grand Prix victory after a nail-biting conclusion to the world’s biggest race weekend.

With Mercedes teammate, and seemingly Antonelli’s closest title rival, George Russell finishing outside the points in 12^th following a late drive-through penalty compounded a miserable weekend, the Italian now leads the Drivers’ Championship by 66 points after just six race weekends.

Hamilton moves ahead of Russell into second in the standings after the Ferrari driver finished second to Antonelli for the second race running.

Hamilton and team-mate Charles Leclerc both got the better of a struggling Max Verstappen off the line to move into second and third, but neither could live with Antonelli, who disappeared into the distance from pole position.

The Italian built a lead of almost 30 seconds before the race was thrown into chaos by two late Safety Cars, both triggered by separate incidents at the final corner of the street circuit. With damage to the barriers requiring attention, officials eventually suspended the race to carry out repairs.

Lance Stroll was first to crash at the final turn before home hero Leclerc did the same, just as the condensed field was gearing up to restart.

The racing eventually resumed 40 minutes later for the Grand Prix’s final eight laps, with a second standing start from the grid.

Again, Antonelli made no mistake at the lights to ensure his first victory in F1’s most legendary race at just the second attempt.

On a day when an unusually high number of drivers – including Hamilton and Russell – were handed five-second penalties for pit-lane speeding offences, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly dropped out of what would have been a stunning third due to two such sanctions being applied to his final race time.

A “heartbroken” Gasly was instead classified seventh and his team later lodged a right of review with the FIA to challenge the costly penalty ruling.

Gasly’s penalties handed fellow Frenchman Isack Hadjar his first Formula 1 podium since joining Red Bull over the winter. There was a brief scare after the race when Hadjar was investigated for a potential red-flag infringement, but stewards ultimately cleared him, allowing him to keep his place in the top three.

McLaren endured a difficult weekend, although Oscar Piastri salvaged a respectable fourth-place finish. Team-mate Lando Norris, who won in Monaco last year, failed to finish for the second race in succession due to technical problems.

With several of the sport’s biggest names, including George Russell, Charles Leclerc, Norris and Max Verstappen, all leaving empty-handed, Racing Bulls made the most of the opportunity. Liam Lawson matched the best result of his Formula 1 career in fifth, while British rookie Arvid Lindblad continued to impress with a career-best sixth-place finish.

Alex Albon came home eighth for Williams, with Haas driver Esteban Ocon ninth. Sergio Perez initially looked to have secured Cadillac’s first point in Formula 1 with a 10th-place finish, but a five-second penalty for jumping the second race start dropped him out of the points. That promoted Fernando Alonso into 10th, giving Aston Martin their first point of the 2026 season.