The Mercedes winning streak continues as the 19-year-old sensation Kimi Antonelli wins his fifth straight GP of the season. Antonelli won a chaotic race at Monaco that was not only red-flagged for a considerable time but also saw multiple drivers facing penalties and retirements. 

Antonelli led the entirety of the race comfortably and did not appear to be under pressure once. After the restart, when Antonelli crossed the checkered line, the gap between him and runner-up Lewis Hamilton was more than six seconds. 

Pierre Gasly originally finished third, but a 10-second penalty has dropped him down to seventh. As a result, Isack Hadjar rounded the podium. However, the Red Bull driver also faces a possible penalty for a red flag infringement. 

Antonelli created multiple records with this win. At 19, he became the youngest-ever winner of the Monaco GP, a record that passed on to him by Hamilton, who did it at 23 in his 2008 championship year.

Antonelli became the only driver on the grid to win a grand slam at Monaco. The only one in this century. He became one of the five drivers ever with a grand slam in Monaco, joining Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, Jackie Stewart & Mika Hakkinen.

The race was red-flagged on Lap 68, after Charles Leclerc crashed at Antony Noghes, where Lance Stroll also fell victim a few laps earlier. The Aston Martin driver’s incident prompted a long yellow-flag session.

Not long afterwards, Leclerc’s car went straight into the barriers, and he was heard fuming over an issue with the brakes. Replays also showed he hit some marbles. 

Here’s what the final race result looks like: 

Besides Leclerc and Stroll, four others also joined the DNF list. Valtteri Bottas pitted on Lap 18, likely suffering from a cooling issue with the car. He was back on the track soon, but braking issues eventually led him to retire. He was soon followed by Oliver Bearman.

Then, after CEO Zak Brown confirmed power unit issues, Lando Norris was also forced to call it a day on Lap 46.

In the later stages, Carlos Sainz was also out of the race. Franco Colapinto made contact with him first, and then he was bumped by Nico Hulkenberg. The Audi driver was penalized for this. 

While Antonelli cruised to a comfortable win, George Russell and Max Verstappen could not have had a worse day. 

George Russell’s multiple penalties and Max Verstappen’s engine shot

The Red Bull driver’s race ended before it could even start. His car stalled at the green light, but he successfully managed to get away from traffic. Verstappen eventually made it back into the pits and became the first entrant on the DNF list. 

Speaking to reporters after the race, the Dutchman revealed that he faced inconsistency with power issues from the formation lap itself, and once the lights went green, he just didn’t have anything. 

“There was just no consistency, and then the engine just dropped dead. I only got a little bit of power back after the first corner, and then the engine sounded really awful. I could not go full throttle, so we brought it back, and that was it."

Meanwhile, George Russell was out of points contention for the second time this season. He first got a penalty for speeding in the pit lane, as did many other drivers.

Then, during his second stop under the safety car, he failed to serve a five-second penalty, as the crew forgot to wait before fixing his car. 

On Lap 73, he was also handed an additional drive-through penalty, as he had been noted for not serving his pitlane speeding penalty correctly. 

Hence, another bittersweet day for Mercedes. 

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Written by

Aaradhya Singh

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason