Antonelli wins chaotic Monaco race and extends championship lead

Qualifying: Antonelli snatches pole

However, the race was overshadowed by several incidents. Right at the start, Max Verstappen, who had begun from second place, stalled in his Red Bull and was overtaken by the entire field. "The engine just cut out. I only had some power again after the first corner. The engine sounded really awful, I couldn't go full throttle, so we came into the pits. We have no idea exactly what happened," explained the Dutchman, who had finished third at the Canadian Grand Prix last time out. His team instructed him over team radio: "Just come home."

Verstappen, a four-time world champion, had joked to Antonelli before the start that he should wait a second until the lights went out. Shortly afterwards, his own race was over after one lap. He then got out in the garage and announced he was going to his apartment, which is only 500 metres from the track.

Around ten laps from the end, Charles Leclerc in the second Ferrari hit the barriers in Turn 19, triggering a red-flag period in the race. Shortly before that, Lance Stroll in the Aston Martin had already crashed in the same corner, which had brought out a safety car phase. The cause of both accidents was identified as the crumbling asphalt in the tight section of the street circuit.

Crashes in Turn 19 force red flag

The race officials interrupted the race for approximately 37 minutes to repair the damaged section. The field was then regrouped behind the safety car driven by Bernd Mayländer, and the race resumed with a standing start. In total, the Monaco Grand Prix lasted almost two and a half hours, with 60 regular laps plus ten additional laps after the restart.

Defending world champion Lando Norris also retired in the McLaren. After 45 laps, he had to stop his car with a suspected battery defect — his second consecutive retirement following the Canadian Grand Prix. The Monaco race marked McLaren's 1,000th Grand Prix weekend in the team's history.

George Russell, Antonelli's teammate at Mercedes, received a drive-through penalty during the race and finished the Grand Prix outside the points. At one point, he was lapped by Antonelli. In qualifying, Russell had already ended up sixth on the grid, clearly behind his teammate.

Penalties for Hamilton, Russell, and Hülkenberg

In the pits, another penalty caused discussion: both Hamilton and Russell had received five-second time penalties during their tire changes for speeding in the pit lane. For Hülkenberg, a ten-second penalty dropped him from eighth place to 14th, costing him his first championship points of the season. Audi has so far scored only two points this season, both from the opening race.

Nico Hülkenberg was the only German driver to start in the field. Gabriel Bortoleto in the second Audi finished 12th, having not set a time in qualifying. At Cadillac, Valtteri Bottas retired early.

Concerns over Ferrari team principal Vasseur

In the championship standings, Antonelli significantly extended his lead. After six of 22 races, he leads with 66 points ahead of Hamilton, who now lies second overall behind his former Mercedes teammate Russell. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, who was born in Austria, warned against excessive expectations given his protégé's dominance: "We have to be careful that he doesn't become Icarus, we need to keep his feet on the ground." Wolff had previously described the qualifying lap as "a lap for the history books."

At Ferrari, Sunday was overshadowed by the health problems of team principal Frédéric Vasseur. The 58-year-old Frenchman had watched qualifying on Saturday from a clinic, where he had been admitted for observation. On race day, he returned to the pit wall. Ferrari made no statements regarding the exact diagnosis.

Among the spectators in Monaco were, in addition to Hollywood stars such as Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, German football world champions Mario Götze, Mats Hummels, and Lukas Podolski. Kim Kardashian and her sister Khloe had come to the track at Hamilton's invitation.

A look at the championship table and the season calendar

As early as next weekend, the seventh round of the season takes place with the Barcelona Grand Prix. This is followed by a two-week break before Formula 1 visits Austria at the Red Bull Ring.

Antonelli, who had been 0.043 seconds faster than Verstappen in qualifying, said regarding his fifth pole: "That was a magical lap, I brought everything together. It was so close with Max. I am super happy, we have improved massively." His fifth consecutive victory was achieved exclusively in dry conditions — the only race this season that he did not win was the opener in Australia, in which Russell had triumphed.

With the Monaco victory, Antonelli is also the youngest winner of the Monaco Grand Prix in Formula 1 history. Mercedes team principal Wolff classified his driver's performance as historic and at the same time stressed how important discipline and staying grounded would be for the rest of the season.