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F1 Results from a Wild Monaco Grand Prix 2026

Full report and results from the 2026 Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix.
Ewan Gale|
Mercedes-Benz Media

Kimi Antonelli was in a class of one as he took his fifth victory in succession at the Circuit de Monaco in a captivating Monaco Grand Prix.

While everything was smooth sailing for the Italian teenager, there was chaos behind him as Lewis Hamilton and Pierre Gasly followed him over the line.

But the Alpine driver was demoted due to penalties accrued in the race, promoting Isack Hadjar into third, who himself faces an investigation post-race.

Antonelli now sits 68-points ahead of teammate George Russell in the race for the drivers' title after the Briton endured a miserable afternoon.

Pre-race drama hits Audi

As is becoming the norm this season, there was drama even before lights out. Liam Lawson's Racing Bulls mechanics faced a race against time to solve a suspected battery issue with under an hour to go before the pitlane opened. The team managed just that, with the Kiwi making his way onto the grid.

When the pitlane opened, Gabriel Bortoleto stalled in the queue and was forced to have his Audi pushed back towards his garage, where there was a rush to get the R26 ready to start from pitlane.

That queue was bypassed by Sergio Perez, who bizarrely crossed the white exit line to jump ahead, the Cadillac driver earning himself an investigation by the race stewards.

Verstappen victory bid stalls

Focus at the start was all on whether it would be Antonelli or Max Verstappen that got to Sainte-Devote first, but that was taken away when the Red Bull driver stalled in his grid box.

It was an apparent issue that brought the Dutchman into the pits, having already dropped to the back, the first retirement of the race as he was wheeled back into the garage.

He was joined in the pits by Valtteri Bottas and Oliver Bearman, with the Briton having a front-wing change after hitting teammate Esteban Ocon on the first tour.

The difficulty overtaking was further highlighted by the decision by Bortoleto and Fernando Alonso to pit for tire changes in the opening four laps, by which time Antonelli had already pulled a 3.5s gap over Hamilton in second.

George Russell's miserable weekend seemed to be getting worse when he was noted by race stewards for being out of position in his grid box, but the second Mercedes was spared investigation.

But Perez, already in hot water with the stewards for his pre-race transgression, earned himself a drive-through penalty when he was found to have mis-positioned where Russell had not.

Tactics in recent years at Monaco have seen the leader hold a steady pace, keeping the pack tightly bunched. But Antonelli had no interest in following suit, lapping backmarkers by lap 11 with a lead stretched to almost five seconds over Hamilton, a deficit that only stabilized as the championship leader began to manage brake temperatures.

Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, Monaco GP 2026, practice
Mercedes-Benz Media

By lap 13, eight of the remaining 21 drivers had already made their pitstops, with those higher up the mid-division having to react to earlier stops in order to defend track position.

Antonelli's brake management, paired with his journey past the backmarkers, had seen the gap at the front reduce to 3.4 by lap 18.

Bottas, meanwhile, became the second retirement from the race when pulling into the pits for Cadillac.

Hadjar problems leads to epic tussle as penalties pile up

Verstappen's issue had allowed team-mate Isack Hadjar into fourth, but with Russell on his tail, the Frenchman was radioing with car problems of his own.

First, he reported an issue with first gear, then that the power was down. "Something's going to explode," a worked-up Hadjar exclaimed during one exchange, with his team trying to calm his driver down.

His issues were costing him and Russell some two seconds a lap compared to Leclerc in third and took both of them past the gap needed for Antonelli to make a move.

Up front, Antonelli had put the hammer down again to extend his lead over Hamilton to 7.4s by lap 24. With Charles Leclerc a further six seconds back, the Mercedes had a pitstop advantage should a safety car be deployed.

Back to the battle for fourth, Hadjar was still ahead of Russell, albeit 28 seconds back from Leclerc by lap 27. A mistake at the Nouvelle Chicane saw the Red Bull driver cut the corner, leading to questioning from Russell over whether he should be given the position, though the order remained the same.

Lap 28 saw Hamilton pulled in for a pitstop by Ferrari as the Scuderia tried to make an impression on Antonelli's lead.

With an 11-second gap, the Italian didn't react instantly and instead continued to build his advantage, even with the seven-time champion on fresher tires. Worse still for Hamilton, speeding in the pitlane delivered him with a five-second penalty.

Mercedes decided to get Russell out from underneath Hadjar's wing and pitted on lap 32, finding fresh air between Lando Norris and Lawson.

Hadjar was brought in in response a lap later, but the undercut was too powerful, finally releasing Russell for provisional fourth. Like his former teammate, however, Russell was slapped with a five-second penalty for pitlane speeding.

Leclerc was next to pit and fell behind Hamilton by some 13 seconds, leaving Antonelli out in the clear before his stop, which came on lap 37.

Russell's race was getting more frustrating - this time it was Norris' rear wing that he was forced to stare at as McLaren tried to create a gap for Piastri, who had yet to pit.

But that strategy went out of the window for McLaren as Norris was forced into retirement with a suspected power unit issue.

Williams steals the show

Williams, Monaco GP 2026
Getty Images / Atlassian Williams F1 Team

With the gap at the front out to 20 seconds on lap 50 and large gaps across the top 10, eyes turned to a five-car battle for ninth.

Williams held ninth and 10th with Alex Albon ahead of Carlos Sainz, but after the former pitted, he was tasked with holding the chasing pack of Arvid Lindblad, Nico Hulkenberg, Ocon and Franco Colapinto behind to allow Spaniard Sainz to make his stop and retain position.

An idea born out of the 2025 two-stop rule, it worked out well as both cars held their position - Lindblad getting through not so much of an issue given the Briton was yet to pit.

Meanwhile the stewards were busy with an incredible number of pitlane speeding penalties to dish out: Gasly, Colapinto, Piastri and Lance Stroll all given five-second penalties along with Hamilton and Russell.

Antonelli's gap was such that he was being told to slow down by race engineer Pete Bonnington, a fastest lap on lap 57, taking him almost half a minute ahead. He even lapped Russell, to rub salt into the wound of his team-mate and championship rival.

Stroll crash sets up late sprint

On lap 60, however, Antonelli's cruise to victory was interrupted when Stroll crashed out at Anthony Noghes.

The safety car triggered a swathe of pitstops, including for Hamilton and Piastri to serve their penalties, but it seemed as though Mercedes forgot to serve the five seconds as the team double-stacked him with Antonelli.

The order now saw Antonelli lead Hamilton, Leclerc, Hadjar and Russell, but having stayed out, Gasly was now in front of Piastri, with Lawson and Lindblad and Albon completing the top 10 - Lindblad having been helped by the timing of the safety car to stay in front of the Williams duo.

The safety car peeled in at the end of lap 65 but was immediately called upon again as Leclerc followed Stroll's route into the barriers at the final corner at the restart.

The Ferrari was quickly removed by the marshals, but on lap 68, the race was red-flagged, the FIA explaining that an inspection was needed for the track breaking up at the scene of both incidents.

While the cars stopped in the pitlane pending the inspection, Gasly was handed another five-second penalty for speeding in the pits again.

Another driver back in trouble was Russell, who was now investigated for not serving his previous penalty, as suspected. The result: a drive-through penalty.

At 17:01 local time, a minute after the race was originally scheduled to finish, a resumption time of 17:12 was announced, with the FIA confirming that "temporary repairs" had been completed at Anthony Noghes.

A standing restart followed on lap 71 after two formation laps behind the safety car, with Antonelli now having to fend off Hamilton in a sprint.

The Mercedes got off the line perfectly to hold position from Hamilton, but behind, Hadjar had a nightmare start.

Russell got ahead, as did Gasly, but both had penalties lingering over them. The Mercedes driver tried to bunch the pack up behind him to have a chance of scoring points after his drive-through penalty, but that created issues at the hairpin - Hulkenberg colliding with Sainz and sending the Williams out of the race.

The top two had checked out and Gasly in third had 10 seconds of penalties to add at the end of the race. But Hadjar was to be investigated after the race for a red flag infringement, which gave Piastri in fifth hope of a podium, even if he would have to wait for confirmation and miss out on standing alongside Antonelli and Hamilton.

The gap at the top was 6.2 seconds at the end as Antonelli breezed to victory, with Hamilton happy with second.

Hadjar was promoted to third but will await the outcome of his investigation, keeping Piastri waiting in fourth.

Lawson and Lindblad gave Racing Bulls fifth and sixth ahead of Gasly, who dropped to seventh with his penalties.

Albon was eventually eighth ahead of Hulkenberg, who was docked 10 seconds post-race for hitting Sainz and dropped to 14th.

That put Ocon up to ninth and Perez into 10th for what should be Cadillac's first point in F1 - though he was noted for being out of position at the restart, following his earlier five-second penalty for the same transgression.

Alonso was 11th and would profit from any penalty, with Bortoleto, Russell, Hulkenberg and Colapinto the last of the finishers.

F1 Monaco Grand Prix 2026 Results

Position

Driver / Team

1

Kimi Antonelli / Mercedes

2

Lewis Hamilton / Ferrari

3

Isack Hadjar / Red Bull

4

Oscar Piastri / McLaren

5

Liam Lawson / Racing Bulls

6

Arvid Lindblad / Racing Bulls

7

Pierre Gasly / Alpine

8

Alex Albon / Williams

9

Esteban Ocon / Haas

10

Sergio Perez / Cadillac

11

Fernando Alonso / Aston Martin

12

Gabriel Bortoleto / Audi

13

George Russell / Mercedes

14

Nico Hulkenberg / Audi

15

Franco Colapinto / Alpine

DNF

Carlos Sainz / Williams

DNF

Charles Leclerc / Ferrari

DNF

Lance Stroll / Aston Martin

DNF

Lando Norris / McLaren

DNF

Oliver Bearman / Haas

DNF

Valtteri Bottas / Cadillac

DNF

Max Verstappen / Red Bull

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Ewan Gale
EWAN GALE

Ewan is a motorsport journalist covering F1 for Grand Prix On SI. Having been educated at Silverstone, the home of the British Grand Prix, and subsequently graduating from university with a sports journalism degree, Ewan made a move into F1 in 2021. Ewan joins after a stint with Autosport as an editor, having written for a number of outlets including RacingNews365 and GPFans, during which time he has covered grand prix and car launches as an accredited member of the media.

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