Kimi Antonelli took a dramatic victory in Sunday’s F1 Monaco Grand Prix, extending his lead in the championship to 66 points after the race was stopped twice due to crashes and red flags.
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The right-to-flag victory on the iconic streets of Monte Carlo marked the 19-year-old Italian’s fifth straight victory, continuing his incredible winning streak in his second season in F1.
Fellow Mercedes driver and closest rival for the championship, George Russell, finished outside the points due to his team’s failure to properly execute a five-second time penalty. This mistake resulted in an even harsher penalty and he was pushed back to the back of the grid.
Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton finished second, taking second place in the championship, two points behind Russell, and watched from the paddock as partner Kim Kardashian hoisted the trophy. Isak Hajar finished on the podium in third place, marking Red Bull’s first top-three finish in F1.
It was Antonelli’s fifth consecutive victory, and the second consecutive victory in which Russell did not score. Antonelli and Russell now have a championship lead of 68 points.
“It was a great weekend, an unbelievable race,” Antonelli said in a live post-race interview. “The job is not done. As you know, the season is still long. We have to keep pushing and keep raising the level. The goal is to continue performing like this.”
With 16 races remaining and 25 points to win, Russell has a good chance of recovering. However, if Antonelli can maintain his form, this deficit will be a big challenge to overcome.
Russell qualified sixth on Saturday, four tenths off Antonelli’s pace, but fell behind early on Sunday as he was caught up by the slower Hajar. In a darkly symbolic moment, he was lapped by his teammate around lap 54.
Russell was one of around six drivers to receive penalties for pit lane speeding, an unusually high number.
Sky F1 broadcaster David Croft quipped during the broadcast, “There were more penalties than in the World Cup final.”
Monaco is the crown jewel of the F1 calendar and a race every driver covets. The circuit winds through the streets of Monte Carlo, past the port and famous casino, through tunnels, and requires constant concentration as cars inch past fences.
The previous three Monaco Grand Prix winners, Lando Norris in 2025, Leclerc in 2024 and Max Verstappen in 2023, all failed to finish. Leclerc grew up in the city and was aiming for third place before his car hit the barrier.
The race was turned upside down by a crash on lap 60 that brought out the safety car, then another crash and the safety car. The race was immediately halted with a red flag after F1 officials announced that a “track cut” at Turn 19, the site of two crashes by Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, needed to be inspected.
“It looks like the rear brake wasn’t applied at all,” a frustrated Leclerc said in an interview broadcast on Sky F1. “I look like an idiot today.”
The race restarted on lap 68, with 10 laps remaining. Antonelli maintained the lead after a standing start.
The smaller new generation cars once again struggled to overtake on track. In the first stint of the race, Russell and Norris were both trapped behind slower cars, but were unable to find a way to overtake them on the narrow roads.
There was also some gamesmanship by some teams, using one driver to slow down the pack and allow others to gain position.
Norris, the reigning world champion and last year’s Monaco winner, was asked by his team to deliberately slow down and hold Russell back in order to help McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri. Norris had problems with his power unit during the race, but ultimately retired.
Although such behavior is legal under F1 rules, it is considered the antithesis of good racing. Drivers tend not to like running them.
Deploying the same tactic to help his Williams teammate Franco Colapinto, Alex Albon said on his team radio: “We’re too smart for this” after being instructed to slow down his convoy.
F1 has struggled to make Monaco more favorable to wheel-to-wheel racing. The Grand Prix has been criticized as a procession in which Saturday’s hot laps determine the result.
Verstappen qualified second, but stalled at the start and his car was sluggish, dropping him to last place. He was immediately called to the pit lane and retired from the race.
“The engine stopped,” Verstappen said.
