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Kimi Antonelli won the Monaco Grand Prix for Mercedes with a dominant drive from pole to flag, becoming at 19 the youngest victor on the streets of Monte Carlo, in only his second F1 race at the circuit. In a dramatic close to the race he held his nerve through two restarts under immense pressure.
The Italian delivered a consummate exhibition to take victory from Lewis Hamilton in second and the Red Bull of Isack Hadjar in third, though neither really challenged the Mercedes. However, Antonelli had to weather nervelessly the tense final moments of a safety-car restart and then a full standing start after a red flag because the track itself was breaking up at the final corner.
It presented a dramatic final showdown, with the fast-starting Ferrari of Hamilton on the front row next to Antonelli, and while the Italian was a little slow away, a moment surely when his heart was in his mouth, he held his line, nerve and the place, enough to maintain a deserved lead to the flag.
The win, a remarkable fifth in a row this season for the Italian, means he has extended his lead in the world championship over his teammate George Russell, who endured a trying afternoon, penalised twice: once for speeding in the pit lane and then again for failing to serve that five-second penalty during a pit stop, with a drive-through later in the race. His 13th place was another bruising blow to Russell’s chances as he falls to 68 points behind, with Hamilton now moving to second in the championship, 66 in arrears.
Max Verstappen, who started on the front row alongside Antonelli, was left disappointed as his Red Bull suffered a technical problem when the lights went out and had to retire his car.
The race, until the late drama with two crashes at the final corner as the track surface came apart, had been a processional affair even by Monaco’s usual standards and was completely controlled by Antonelli, who once more raised the bar in what has already been a striking start by the 19-year-old to the season.
He gave a champion’s drive with a command of the key moments to secure a victory that could well be the first of many in Monte Carlo on this evidence.
The first piece of it had been in the start. With Verstappen mired on the grid, Antonelli shot off and held his lead into turn one, from which point he did not put a foot wrong as he broke the record for youngest winner here, set by Hamilton when he was 23 in 2008.
Antonelli made one of his best starts of the season to dash into turn one in the lead but Verstappen was left barely moving off the line, the car going into anti-stall with a technical problem as the field swarmed around him. Hamilton and Charles Leclerc moved up to second and third.
Antonelli wasted no time exploiting his track position and powered into the distance. With a lead of almost 30 seconds by the time the first pit stops were completed, the race was in his hands. Even as penalties for pit-lane speeding peppered the other runners, including Russell and Hamilton, Antonelli was in control.
A cruise to the flag was on the cards until the safety car was called on lap 60 when Lance Stroll crashed out at the final corner. Antonelli pitted under the safety car, as did Hamilton and Leclerc, with the Englishman taking his five-second penalty. Russell similarly pitted but the team did not serve the penalty as required, and he took a further sanction of the drive-through.
Antonelli held his lead through the restart on lap 68 but Leclerc went straight on into the barriers struggling with his brakes, leaving the Monégasque furious at the end of his home race. It prompted a red flag as the race director had to inspect the track at the corner, its breaking up clearly a factor in the two crashes there.
Repairs were made and racing was able to resume after a 35-minute delay, with a standing start from which the Italian emerged once more on top, to seal a famous win.
Lando Norris, the defending world champion, had to retire for the second race in a row with a mechanical problem, while his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri took fourth place.
