By Martyn Herman
MONACO, June 7 (Reuters) – Formula One championship leader Kimi Antonelli stayed ice-cool to win a chaotic and at times bewildering Monaco Grand Prix and extend his run of victories this season to five on Sunday.
The 19-year-old Italian built a lead of more than 20 seconds after starting from pole in his Mercedes but that evaporated after first a safety car was deployed and then the race was red-flagged to repair a crumbling surface at the final corner where Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc hit the barriers.
After a delay of around 40 minutes while repairs were carried out near La Rascasse, the race resumed with a standing start but just as in the day’s first start, Antonelli was unfazed as he put down eight faultless laps to become the youngest winner of the sport’s most iconic race.
Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton was runner-up for the second successive Grand Prix with Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar a gutsy third, the second podium of his career confirmed well after the finish when stewards cleared his team of an infringement.
Hamilton, who equalled the late Ayrton Senna’s eight Monaco podiums, moved above Antonelli’s team mate George Russell into second place in the standings, 66 points behind.
Russell suffered a damaging day as a drive-through penalty for failing to observe a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane meant he finished out of the points for the second race in succession after retiring in Canada.
He was one of five drivers penalised for speeding in the pit lane, including Alpine’s Pierre Gasly who finished third on the road but was immediately demoted to seventh after two five-second penalties for the offence.
A year after finishing last on his Monaco debut, Antonelli showed incredible poise to shrug off the red flag drama that meant he effectively had to win the race twice.
“It’s been an incredible weekend and an incredible race,” said Antonelli, who was not even born the last time an Italian won the Monaco Grand Prix – Jarno Trulli in 2004.
“I wasn’t super keen on re-starting but once the notification came out I just gathered my emotions and re-focused again. Once I got away and was P1 into the first corner I could enjoy the last few laps.”
Seven-time world champion Hamilton, who had been the youngest Monaco winner when he won in 2008 aged 23, is still to top the podium since joining Ferrari in 2025 but continued his resurgence at the age of 41.
“That’s too many wins now, buddy!” Hamilton joked with the new young prince of F1 in the cool down room.
“He very much kind of reminds me of me when I was back in 2007,” Hamilton remarked later.
SILVER ARROW
Antonelli was in a class of his own. By the end of lap one he had a three-second lead and turned the race into a procession around the sun-bathed circuit, threading his silver arrow imperiously through tight and narrow streets.
His domination was underlined by the fact he then built a 6.271 seconds winning margin in the final eight laps after the race resumed with the day’s second standing start.
Antonelli suffered a crisis of confidence during the European races last season after finishing 18th in Monaco, but he is now beginning to look invincible.
Every driver who had won five races in succession in an F1 season has gone on to win the title.
His task was made easier on Sunday as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who started alongside him on the front row, stalled on the grid and retired after a lap with a power unit issue.
It was also a miserable day for reigning world champion and 2025 Monaco winner Lando Norris who retired after 46 laps when the electrical gremlins that dogged him in practice returned.
Local favourite Leclerc received vociferous support from crowds wedged around the 3.3km circuit but his hopes of emulating his 2024 win vanished when he hit the barriers on the final corner on the resumption after the safety car was deployed following a crash by Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll after 60 laps.
Leclerc said an issue with his brakes had caused the accident, not the loose road surface on the final corner where Stroll’s crash triggered a baffling conclusion to the race.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was fourth with Racing Bulls duo Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad fifth and sixth.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Clare Fallon and Pritha Sarkar)
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