MONACO 2026

Monte Carlo. Sunday afternoon, sunny and dry.[87] Seventy-eight laps of the slowest, narrowest circuit on the calendar.[87]

Kimi Antonelli starts from pole. His Saturday lap, a 1:12.051, beat Max Verstappen by forty-three thousandths, with Lewis Hamilton third and Charles Leclerc fourth.[89][87] It had not been a one-sided weekend — Leclerc was quickest in the first part of qualifying, and Antonelli was shown the black-and-white flag for ignoring the race director’s instructions.[87] When the last runs came, he found the lap that mattered. By the flag on Sunday he has led every lap and set the fastest of the race, a 1:13.481 — the youngest winner in Monaco’s history, and the youngest to take a Grand Slam.[87][88]

The pole is the easy part. Keeping the race in one piece is not. Before the start, Liam Lawson reports a problem on his Racing Bulls car that the team fixes in time; Gabriel Bortoleto’s Audi stops at the pit exit, and he begins from the pit lane.[87] Off the line, Antonelli holds the lead.[87] Beside him on the front row, Verstappen reports a power unit problem on the opening lap, drops to the back, and is out before the lap is done.[87][88] Hamilton and Leclerc carry their Ferraris into second and third; Isack Hadjar runs fourth, and Pierre Gasly passes Lando Norris on the same lap.[87]

Out front, Antonelli builds his margin in clean air, edging clear of the two Ferraris through the opening stint while Hadjar holds Russell at bay despite the Mercedes’ pace.[87] Behind them, the field frays. Sergio Pérez collects a drive-through for lining up out of position at the start.[87] George Russell, pressing Hadjar for fourth, reports gear-selection trouble and bleeds time to penalties of his own.[87] The pit lane catches a crowd: five-second penalties for Hamilton, Russell, Gasly, Franco Colapinto and Oscar Piastri.[87] Then the mechanical bill lands all at once — Valtteri Bottas stops with brake trouble, Oliver Bearman is called in to retire, and Norris pulls off with a loss of battery power.[87][88]

With around twenty laps left, the race tips over. Lance Stroll crashes at the final corner and the safety car comes out.[87] Hamilton and Piastri dive in to serve their penalties under the caution.[87] Racing resumes, and almost at once Leclerc crashes at the same corner. His home race ends there, and a red flag flies while officials inspect the track surface.[87][88] During the stoppage Gasly picks up a second five-second penalty, and Russell is left to serve his drive-through once the race goes again.[87]

The Grand Prix restarts from a standing grid. Antonelli leads away from Hamilton again, untroubled.[87] Russell briefly edges ahead of Gasly and Hadjar before the drive-through drops him out of the points.[87] The chaos keeps one act in reserve: Carlos Sainz is caught in two collisions in quick succession and retires with the damage.[87][88] Seven cars never see the flag.[88] Formula 1 files it under a chaotic Monaco Grand Prix of multiple shock retirements, and the headline does not exaggerate.[91][87]

Antonelli takes the win by 6.271 seconds.[88] Hamilton holds second for Ferrari.[88][87] Third is Gasly’s — though only after the argument. The two five-second penalties demote him on Sunday night; a right of review overturns them and restores him to the podium, his first since São Paulo in 2024.[87][88] He had started ninth.[88] Hadjar takes fourth, Piastri fifth, and Fernando Alonso climbs from twenty-first to tenth and the last point.[87][88]

The hardest race to win, won from the front. Lights to flag.[87]