Winner: Kimi Antonelli
F1 2026’s runaway championship leader Kimi Antonelli keeps on delivering under pressure, belying his teenage years. But the weekend he pieced together in Monte Carlo was something really special indeed.
While George Russell could only qualify sixth, and his weekend would spiral out of control from there, Antonelli delivered an outstanding pole lap to deny Max Verstappen, which even Mercedes privately didn’t think was going to be possible.
Around Monaco that’s usually 80% of the work but, having frequently struggled with Mercedes’ starts, Antonelli still needed to execute a clean getaway and 78-lap race, which was a stop-start affair with safety cars and a late red flag.
Antonelli now leads Lewis Hamilton by 66 points with Russell another two points in arrears, which is not a scenario many people would have seen coming.
Loser: George Russell
On the opposite side of the garage George Russell really is in the hurt locker right now. When the Briton was offered a penny for his thoughts, the 28-year-old’s frustration freely poured out, from the soul searching he is doing to adapt his driving style to some of the misfortune he has suffered this year that has only compounded his misery.
Despite only qualifying sixth, well behind Antonelli, Russell could have still defied Monaco logic and recovered a few positions, thanks to Verstappen dropping out and Mercedes undercutting the other Red Bull of Isack Hadjar. But Russell was one of several drivers to fall foul of the pit entry speed limit, and a miscommunication error with the pit crew meant he didn’t sit out his five-second penalty correctly, netting him a crippling drive-through after a late restart.
Russell needs a fresh start to the 2026 season, and what better way to bounce back in just a handful of days at a completely different circuit in Barcelona. The question that needs answering is if Antonelli can still be stopped at this point. Current form says no. Last year’s title fight shows anything is still possible.
Isack Hadjar was one of the winners of the weekend. George Russell, not so much.
Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images
Winner: Lewis Hamilton
What a difference a year makes. After serious questions on whether Hamilton would climb out of the dark place, he was in at the end of 2025, a totally different car and a harmonious engineering team tuned into to his needs has brought the best out of the 41-year-old. That netted a second consecutive second place, having compared favourably to hometown hero Charles Leclerc.
It also led to an amusing podium ceremony, with Hamilton joined by two youngsters in Antonelli and Hadjar who are still younger than him combined. As a seven-time world champion Hamilton may feel it is odd that he has to “remind people” of who he is, as he put it on Sunday night. But after the last couple of years he’s had, people had every right to feel like he had lost the edge, because it really looked like he did. That doesn’t make it any less satisfying to prove the doubters wrong, though.
Loser: Charles Leclerc
Charles Leclerc knows a thing or two about disappointing home races, such as the bungled pitstop in 2022 that cost him a first win in his own streets. That feeling will probably never be topped, and only just as well, but 2026 was still a big disappointment for Leclerc as he struggled with Ferrari all weekend.
Given how much Leclerc was lacking confidence and consistency under braking, it was somewhat of a miracle to see him vie for pole until the end until a tap with the barriers at the swimming pool ended those hopes.
Sunday didn’t go much better and it ended in the wall at Turn 19 after more braking issues, even leading to supplier Brembo issuing a statement late on Sunday night.
“Out of the four brakes, I had three brakes not working. So, in a Formula 1 car, it’s never a good thing,” Leclerc said sarcastically, as he’s set to move to Hamilton’s brake set-up for Barcelona.
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Toto Wolff, Mercedes
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
Winner: Isack Hadjar
A grand prix never feels straight-forward for temperamental Isack Hadjar, who’s added to his greatest team radio hits on Sunday afternoon. In this case he had his reasons to flare up as he was struggling with all sorts of issues inside the cockpit as the team managed power unit and driveability issues, which made his race anything but straight-forward.
The reward for keeping his cool, at least from a driving point of view, is a second podium in F1 and a first for Red Bull Racing, which will stand him in good stead as he aims to finally banish Red Bull’s second seat curse.
Loser: Max Verstappen
On the other side of the garage Verstappen made an early exit after stalling at the start with what Laurent Mekies confirmed was a power unit issue. Verstappen was lucky not to get collected on the sprint towards Sainte Devote but was left unrewarded for an outstanding qualifying performance.
The bigger picture isn’t as bleak for the Dutchman, as Red Bull was surprisingly competitive on a circuit with plenty of bumps and kerb riding, which has been one of its Achilles Heels in recent years. High-downforce Barcelona will prove if Red Bull has really made a step forward on all fronts.
Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good, with Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad benefitting from safety car timings to collect fifth and sixth, best-ever career results for both.
But calling Racing Bulls just lucky is selling the team short, as Lawson first put himself in that position with a solid qualifying lap, and the Anglo-Italian squad had to scramble one hour before the race to get either car at the start due to system issues, which prompted a late assembly job.
Lindblad, F1’s only rookie in the field, also deserves credit for not putting a wheel wrong all weekend on the most challenging circuit on the calendar.
Pierre Gasly, was “heartbroken” after seeing a podium taken away for pitlane speeding.
Photo by: Anni Graf – Formula 1 via Getty Images
Pierre Gasly really should have been in the winners’ category, bouncing back from two rough weekends with an exceptional qualifying lap and a clean race that could have yielded him a Monaco podium. Having been one of the drivers falling foul of the pitlane speed limit left him “heartbroken” and dropped him from third to seventh.
Alpine has signalled its intention to lodge a right of review. But even in the unlikely event that it is successful, the unique experience of standing on the iconic Monaco podium is forever lost.
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