Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli, of Italy, celebrates on the podium after winning the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix race at the Monaco racetrack, Sunday, June 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

MONACO — The entire weekend that Formula 1 (F1) cars hit the streets of the Principality of Monaco is filled with glitz and glamour, but seldom much exciting racing. This year, young phenom Andrea Kimi Antonelli drove his Mercedes to a win from pole position, leading every single lap along the way. More on his impressive achievements shortly.

Fortunately, racing officials abandoned last year’s ill-conceived idea of mandating two pit stops around the street course and let the race play out naturally this time. While the on-track passing was wildly low once more, there were plenty of quirky happenings as eleven penalties were handed out to drivers throughout the race, there were three safety car periods, and the race was even stopped at one point with a red flag when the track was literally falling apart.

Hometown hero Charles Leclerc always electrifies the crowd with his stellar driving around the streets where he grew up, but he could manage no higher than fourth in qualifying after wrecking his car on his last lap. He also sadly wrecked as the cars were taking the last corner to restart the race behind a safety car after Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll wrecked his car in the exact same spot several laps earlier. Max Verstappen fared even worse, not completing a single lap in the race after having a failure when the lights went out to start the race.

Pierre Gasly crossed the finish line in third place in his Alpine, but he had two penalties for speeding in the pit lane adding up to 10 seconds of time penalties, and dropped to seventh. George Russell was trying to limit the damage to his championship quest, but instead had a five second penalty for speeding in the pit lane and, when he pitted, his team failed to serve his penalty correctly so he had a drive through penalty tacked on, dropping him to 12th.

Sergio Perez returned to the F1 grid this year with the new Cadillac team and crossed the line in 10th place, earning the new team their first point in an F1 race. Unfortunately, the team never got a chance to celebrate as a penalty for lining up outside of his grid spot cost him ten seconds and dropped him to 15th. Because of the red flag in this race, there were two standing starts, and Perez actually got a penalty on both of those starts.

Carlos Sainz, who has driven in F1 since 2015, achieved a top 10 finish every time he drove in the Monaco race until this year when Nico Hulkenberg wrecked Sainz’s Williams into the wall during an ambitious passing attempt in the hairpin. While Sainz was out of the race at that point, Hulkenberg continued in his Audi and crossed the line in 9th place, but then dropped back to 13th once they applied his 10-second penalty for causing the collision that ruined Sainz’s Monaco record.

The news wasn’t all doom and gloom though as Arvid Lindblad, the sole rookie this year, scored his highest finish in 6th place after the red flag allowed him to change tires without taking a pit stop. With all the penalties flying out of the stewards’ office in Monaco, Fernando Alonso managed to get 10th place in his Aston Martin giving him and his team their first point of the season.

In short, the race was mass chaos, particularly at the end as the penalties all took effect. Out in the front of the race, however, was a person who was calm and collected well beyond his nineteen years. Antonelli showed everyone once more that his results are due to stellar talent, not just having the most dominant car in this new generation of regulations.

Despite the fact that the first five races were all won by Mercedes, many people were flagging Ferrari as the team to bet on for Monaco. No matter what else is happening in a season, the Ferraris are always good on the street course and Leclerc delivers either a masterful performance of driving, or chucks it into the wall trying to deliver that.

Friday practice sessions seemed to back up the sentiment that Ferrari were dominant. Saturday morning, Antonelli was on the radio to his team, asking where on the track he was slower than his teammate. They let him know, and he set right to work getting better times in those sections. By the end of the practice session, he’d topped the time charts.

Antonelli’s ability to quickly adapt to a circuit is a very impressive talent of his and something I’ve seen from the great drivers in the sport like Michael Schumacher. Last season, Antonelli finished in last place in Monaco, 3 laps behind the leader.

Since 2021, Mercedes cars have not driven well around this street course with the highest qualifying position in third in 2021 and highest finish in fourth in 2023. While many teams would love a record like that, Mercedes won the Monaco grand prix five times between 2013 and 2019, and had pole position five times in that span as well. Antonelli’s performance surprised many critics as they thought this was the race in 2026 where Mercedes would struggle.

Comparing Antonelli to his teammate is also important for several reasons. As it is clear Mercedes are the most dominant car, looking at the records of the two teammates should help decide if Antonelli is just in the right car at the right time, or if he is doing something pretty special. Russell won the first race of the season in Australia where Antonelli finished in second.

In China, they switched positions with Antonelli claiming his maiden victory and Russell in second. Antonelli won again when they raced next in Japan, and Russell could only manage fourth. Those positions repeated in Miami where Antonelli extended his win streak to three races in a row.

Then, in Canada, Russell and Antonelli had a spectacular fight for the lead of the race, but after Russell’s car had a mechanical failure, Antonelli cruised on to his fourth win in a row. No other driver in F1 history has won their first four races consecutively, and he’s passed that marker on to five in a row now with a Monaco victory.

Antonelli is also the only teenager to lead the F1 championship standings, and is now the youngest ever winner of the Monaco grand prix. Last season, people were wondering if Antonelli was moved up to F1 too quickly and if he was suited to race in this high of a level. Now this season, he is rewriting the record books and critics have run out of superlatives to describe the young driver.

With 154 points, Antonelli now holds a commanding 66-point lead in the driver’s championship, and his teammate has fallen to third place with 88 points, two points behind Hamilton in second place. Antonelli’s pace was blistering in Monaco where he had a more than thirty-second lead at some points. He’s showing no signs of slowing down whatsoever and is displaying a driving talent that seems to be a once in a generation star.