MONACO LOWDOWN: All the key moments as Antonelli makes it five wins in a row amid plenty of drama

Kimi Antonelli delivered another stellar weekend as F1 moved on to the streets of Monte Carlo, scoring his fifth successive victory with a confident, lights-to-flag triumph, and extending his lead in the Drivers’ Championship.

It’s a result that puts the young Italian a whopping 66 points clear of nearest rival Lewis Hamilton, who bagged P2 for Ferrari again, and 68 up on Mercedes team mate George Russell, whose tricky start to 2026 continued.

Elsewhere, Isack Hadjar scored his first podium for Red Bull, team mate Max Verstappen retired on the first lap, and Charles Leclerc crashed out of his home race – not to mention a wave of time penalties.

With plenty of other talking points filling the weekend, here are all the key moments from the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix…

Antonelli shines as Russell’s rollercoaster continues

Antonelli arrived in Monaco looking to extend an already impressive 2026 winning streak, having won in China, Japan, Miami and Canada – team mate Russell suffering a painful retirement at the latter event as the Silver Arrows diced for the lead.

On Friday, it looked as though Ferrari had entered the conversation (more on that shortly), but Antonelli made a clear step forward in Saturday’s final practice session before doubling down with a “magic” Qualifying lap to beat Verstappen to pole position.

Antonelli nailed his getaway at the race start to banish the demons of sluggish getaways earlier in the season, and he never looked back thereafter, rapidly pulling clear of the Ferraris and navigating the potential hurdles of Safety Cars and a red flag.

While Antonelli revelled in another victory, Russell was left to rue what might have been – his weekend derailed by a low-key Qualifying display and a pair of time penalties in the race.

Russell was initially hit with a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane, then didn’t serve it correctly at his next stop, and lost what would have been solid damage limitation – and a P3 finish – when the stewards handed him a drive-through.

There is, of course, still a long way to go this season, but there’s no denying that Antonelli is making huge strides in his quest to become F1’s youngest champion, with Russell quite literally left scratching his head.

Hamilton takes back-to-back podiums while Leclerc ends in the wall

Hamilton proved that his podium at the Canadian Grand Prix wasn’t a one-off, as he finished second in Sunday’s race after benefitting from Verstappen’s early retirement.

Ferrari were considered the favourites due to their preference for low-speed corners, which Monaco is full of, and both Hamilton and Leclerc demonstrated that a non-Mercedes win could be on the cards as they shone throughout all three practice sessions.

But when it came to Qualifying, they dropped behind Antonelli and Verstappen on the timesheets and locked out the second row, with the seven-time World Champion starting ahead after taking what felt like a “drastically different” car to P3.

He faced problems with tyre management during Sunday’s race and was one of the five drivers to be penalised for speeding in the pit lane, but Ferrari’s strategic choice to box for fresh tyres under the Safety Car meant that he could serve the penalty and maintain an impressive second place.

It looked like the Scuderia might secure their first double podium of the season as Leclerc stuck close behind Hamilton, which would have certainly pleased his home crowd. He had to endure a slow stop as the Briton was prioritised when they committed to a double stack while the Safety Car was out, but held onto third ahead of the restart.

Once racing resumed and Antonelli began to escape up the road, the Monegasque driver’s brakes finally gave up and he drove straight into the barriers in a mirror image of Lance Stroll’s earlier crash, prompting Leclerc to state over the radio that he wasn’t willing to “take the blame” due to his seemingly endless troubles with the car.

Hadjar on the podium after Verstappen’s early drama

It may not have been the most straightforward day for Hadjar, but despite the numerous obstacles in his way, he achieved his first podium with Red Bull in his sixth round with the team. After qualifying fifth, he embarked on an uneasy defence against Russell, who firmly established himself in the RB22’s rear mirrors for close to half of the race.

Both the Mercedes driver and Hadjar himself noted that the Frenchman was struggling with graining on his front-left tyre early on, and the problems continued to pile up – he felt that something was “going to explode” on his car and reported that he wasn’t able to use first gear.

Despite all of that, he stayed ahead until Russell gave up and peeled into the pits for fresh tyres, eventually making his way up to P3 following Leclerc’s late crash. His podium chances were briefly rocked as he dropped behind Russell and Pierre Gasly on the restart, but the knowledge that both drivers still had outstanding penalties was enough to keep Hadjar ticking along and he regained the position as they were applied.

Hadjar himself still had to be investigated post-race for a red flag infringement, but the stewards concluded that no further action was required and he was able to keep his podium and celebrate his highest-scoring performance with Red Bull yet.

On the other side of the garage, there was no similar achievement for Verstappen to enjoy as he was forced to retire on the first lap. After hoping for plenty of opportunities from the front row of the grid, the Dutchman failed to get off the line at lights out and had no choice but to watch the remaining 21 cars zoom past.

He managed to restart the car but was instructed to return to the pits and climb out, leaving him to wonder what he could have accomplished without the DNF.

Penalties galore and shock retirements

Verstappen wasn’t the only driver to suffer an issue with his car as Valtteri Bottas became the second to retire, with Cadillac failing to find a solution for their continued brake problems. Next up were Haas’ Ollie Bearman, who pitted on the first lap for a new front wing and eventually retired on Lap 30, and a disheartened Lando Norris.

McLaren’s 1000th Grand Prix didn’t exactly produce the glory of some of their past races, with the Briton suffering a lack of power that saw his speed plummet before he became the fourth retiree of the day.

Further chaos ensued when Stroll – who failed to serve an earlier five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits – crashed his Aston Martin at the final corner of the Circuit de Monaco, an error which Leclerc inadvertently replicated upon the race restart to prompt a second Safety Car, followed by an extended delay under the red flag.

The final restart saw even more drama when Carlos Sainz, who was on course to bring home a double points finish for Williams with Alex Albon, was tagged by Nico Hulkenberg at the hairpin before colliding with Franco Colapinto further round the lap.

The Audi driver didn’t escape punishment for the incident as he received a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision, dropping him to P14 at the finish. Sergio Perez was handed an identical penalty for being out of position at the second restart – this was announced after the race was over and meant that Cadillac lost out on their first points as the Mexican driver was demoted to P15.

There were also plenty of penalties during the race itself, most notably for multiple instances of speeding in the pit lane. Whilst being in contention for the podium, Gasly was hit with two separate five-second time penalties for this infringement, while his team mate Colapinto was found guilty just once.

Hamilton and Oscar Piastri similarly carried a bit too much speed through the pits but opted to serve their penalties during a stop under the Safety Car, which allowed them to keep P2 and P4 respectively. It looked like Russell would choose to do the same when he came in for a second set of tyres, but he ended up completing a normal stop and was given a drive-through penalty for failing to serve at the first time of asking, ruling him out of the points.

F2 and F3 put on an entertaining show

There was plenty of F2 and F3 action in Monaco, and a fair amount of drama too. Nikola Tsolov was victorious in the F2 Feature Race, after pressurising pole-sitter Rafael Camara for lap after lap. The Invicta Racing man eventually ran straight on at Sainte Devote, ending his afternoon, with Tsolov going on to grab a hard-fought win.

Rodin Motorsport’s Alexander Dunne came home second, while DAMS Lucas Oil’s Dino Beganovic grabbed the final podium spot with a last-lap overtake.

Meanwhile, Noel Leon won the Sprint, ahead of Roman Bilinski and Gabriele Mini. All of which leaves Mini in the lead of the championship by just one point from Tsolov.

In F3, Brando Badoer took his maiden win for Rodin Motorsport after getting a better launch than Theophile Nael, who had started on pole. Nael came home second, ahead of Freddie Slater.

Hiyu Yamakoshi won from pole in the Sprint Race, despite a red flag threatening to derail his charge to victory. Gerrard Xie was second, with Bruno del Pino completing the podium.

The stars come out in Monaco

This race weekend is always a highlight for many, and this year the weather obliged to give the fans three sunny days of action as the F1 cars twisted their war around the streets of this iconic venue.

Watched on by celebrities galore, the drivers delivered plenty of drama, with crashes throughout the weekend, an incredibly tight Qualifying and then an incident-packed Grand Prix that ended with teenage sensation Antonelli in the harbour with most of his team.

Freestyle skier and Olympic gold medallist Eileen Gu was on hand with the pole position award on Saturday, while fellow skiing star Lindsey Vonn was in attendance down at Red Bull on Sunday. They were not the only sports stars to grace this weekend, with plenty of famous footballers turning out for the traditional pre-Monaco charity game.

As for stars of the silver screen, Karen Gillan, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michael Douglas and Cynthia Erivo all watched the Grand Prix on Sunday, which had more twists and turns than any Hollywood thriller.

But in the end, what everyone got treated to was a fantastic race won by a driver writing himself into the history books yet again, as Antonelli’s winning streak continues.