Kimi Antonelli won the Monaco Grand Prix in Formula 1 and extended his lead in the world championship in a race that left seven cars out of contention, with Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc heading the list of retirements. Antonelli, in the Mercedes, took the checkered flag 4.4 seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton and celebrated his third victory of the season. Isack Hadjar, in the Red Bull, capitalised on the chaos to score his first top‑three finish in the category.

Photo By Mercedes F1

The race went wrong for Verstappen before the lights even went out, when the Red Bull driver, starting second, triggered anti‑stall at the start and remained stationary on the main straight in Monte Carlo. The remaining 21 cars swerved around him, and the Red Bull number 3 returned to the pits to retire before completing a single lap. Verstappen explained over the radio that engine problems had already hinted themselves on the formation lap and that the pre‑start procedure was chaotic. His retirement left Hamilton and Leclerc as the only ones who could challenge Antonelli for the lead.

The championship leader needed nothing more and opened up four and a half seconds over Hamilton in the first eight laps, managing the gap without the Ferraris finding a way to get close. Hamilton reported rear‑tyre degradation, and Leclerc could not put his teammate under pressure before the first pit stop. That initial advantage was the foundation on which Antonelli built a race that he controlled even when the Mercedes engine gave strange signs midway through. His engineer told him there was nothing to worry about, and Antonelli responded with the fastest lap of the day.

Photo By Red Bull Content Pool

The first major twist came with the Safety Car caused by Lance Stroll with 20 laps remaining, when his Aston Martin hit the wall at the final corner of the circuit and the neutralisation sent a large part of the grid to the pits. Hamilton and Oscar Piastri took the opportunity to make their second stop and serve the five‑second penalties they were carrying for pit‑lane speeding. Ferrari doubled the stop for both of its cars, and that delayed Leclerc, who came out furious over the radio. Leclerc had already had brake problems in Saturday's qualifying, and this second setback left him with no chance to fight for the honours.

On the restart, Leclerc repeated Stroll's accident at the same spot, losing the rear under braking at Antony Noghes and going straight into the barriers. Race control stopped the session with a red flag to inspect the deterioration of the asphalt in that area. Leclerc said over the radio that he did not accept the blame, but his home Grand Prix was already over. The interruption benefited Hamilton, who could serve his penalty without losing second place, and Hadjar, who moved up to third.

The resumption brought more incidents when George Russell, who had ignored his drive‑through, was called in to serve it and tumbled from the leading group to 14th place. Carlos Sainz, who had already had an incident with Nico Hülkenberg at the hairpin, was hit by Franco Colapinto before the tunnel and ended up sideways across the track. The Williams went into the wall, adding the seventh retirement of the day.

Photo By Red Bull Content Pool

Hadjar, who at mid‑race had reported loss of power and problems with first gear, managed to keep his Red Bull in third position despite being stalked by Russell for much of the race. Hadjar finished the 78 laps 23 seconds behind Antonelli, but with third place secured pending a post‑race investigation for a possible infringement under the Safety Car. Piastri finished fourth as the only McLaren to see the checkered flag, after Lando Norris retired with a power unit failure. The Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad took fifth and sixth places.

Pierre Gasly finished seventh for Alpine, but two five‑second penalties for pit‑lane speeding dropped him down the order. Alex Albon was eighth, Esteban Ocon ninth, and Sergio Pérez closed out the points‑scoring positions in tenth. Pérez received a drive‑through in the early laps for a false start, having lined up in the wrong grid slot, and then charged from the back to give Cadillac its first point in the history of the category.

Norris, Oliver Bearman, Valtteri Bottas, Stroll, Leclerc and Sainz were the other six drivers who did not finish. McLaren, celebrating its 1000th Grand Prix, left Monaco with Piastri fourth, Norris out for the second consecutive weekend, and more doubts than certainties about the performance of the MCL40.

Antonelli arrived at the principality as championship leader and leaves with an even bigger advantage, after his teammate Russell failed to score points for the second race in a row and the gap between them began to be considerable. The season resumes next weekend in Barcelona, a circuit that demands aerodynamic downforce, traction and efficiency across all speed ranges.

Monaco Grand Prix 2026

Pos.	No.	driver	team	time	laps
1	#12	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	-	78
2	#44	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	+6.271s	78
3	#6	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull Racing	+23.394s	78
4	#81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+24.261s	78
5	#30	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	+26.553s	78
6	#41	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	+29.010s	78
7	#10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+30.369s	78
8	#23	Alexander Albon	Williams	+33.413s	78
9	#31	Esteban Ocon	Haas F1 Team	+37.140s	78
10	#11	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	+39.153s	78
11	#14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+41.899s	78
12	#5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	+42.748s	78
13	#63	George Russell	Mercedes	+43.353s	78
14	#27	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	+44.102s	78
15	#43	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	+48.964s	78
DNF	#55	Carlos Sainz	Williams	-	70
DNF	#16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	-	64
DNF	#18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	-	56
DNF	#1	Lando Norris	McLaren	-	43
DNF	#87	Oliver Bearman	Haas F1 Team	-	27
DNF	#77	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	-	15
DNF	#3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	-	-