Monaco Grand Prix Takeaways: What did you raise Mr. Antonelli?
F1 OpinionTuesday, 09 June 2026 at 08:30
Kimi Antonelli was definitely the star of the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix as he delivered a veteran drive to take the win after grabbing a majestic pole position in Qualifying.
I may need to explain the headline a bit... But when I was covering the race weekend in Monaco from FP1 up until Qualifying and the race, I was in awe of that young Italian throwing a Formula 1 car around the streets of Monaco, flirting with the barriers just enough to extract the best lap time without crashing.
And through all that, I remembered something Toto Wolff asked Kimi's father, Marco Antonelli. First I thought it was in the Netflix documentary, The Seat, which told the story of how Lewis Hamilton's successor was chosen.
I re-watched that and couldn't find that moment, which eventually turned out to be on Drive To Survive, Season Seven, Episode Three.
Antonelli was doing a test in a GT3 Mercedes car with Wolff attending, and then after the teenager delivered an impressive lap, the Mercedes boss looked at Antonelli Sr. and asked: "What did you raise? He's amazing!"
That basically summed up my feelings on Antonelli's weekend in Monaco.
Marco Antonelli, a former racer himself, may well have emulated Jos Verstappen, delivering another generational F1 talent who is currently a wolf in sheep's clothing.
While Kimi's drive is practically the only takeaway from the Monaco weekend, we will talk about other stuff...
But we start our Takeaways from the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix with Kimi.
The perfect storm
You have to excuse my excitement surrounding Antonelli, and I am aware he still has a long way to go, but what he has delivered so far is so impressive that even GrandPrix247 Editor in Chief, Paul Velasco, ventured to say after Qualifying: "I have never seen anything like it in 50 years of following F1."
And that statement was agreed upon by our GP247 editorial WhatsApp group filled with motorsport veterans who know their sh!t.
Going back to the weekend, Mercedes arrived in Monaco wary of Ferrari's challenge, with George Russell hoping to hit back at his teammate on a track that rewards experience.
And while Ferrari started strongly, Mercedes chased with Russell bettering Antonelli initially as the latter was struggling in the middle sector.
But then Mercedes transformed the car overnight, and the Italian suddenly found form, topping the final practice and carrying that form into Qualifying.
Maybe it was the higher track temperatures in Qualifying, but Ferrari were nowhere while Max Verstappen emerged as Antonelli's main rival for pole as Russell struggled massively.
In the end, and after the Dutchman delivered a blistering lap in an RB22 that had no right being on the front row, Antonelli was a tad faster.
In the race, the young Mercedes driver was in a league of his own, especially after Verstappen's challenge ended prematurely at the start. Ferrari could not challenge.
The only threat came at the Safety Car restart and the race restart following Charles Leclerc's crash, with Hamilton trying to take a first win in Red, but Antonelli was more than ready to defend.
He was simply driving effortlessly, with Peter Bonnington, Bono, trying to slow him down. Antonelli even went for the fastest lap in the end.
He wasn't pushing; he was in the zone, at one with his car... The Perfect Storm.
Ferrari
Once again, Ferrari started a weekend on a high with huge hype surrounding them as their SF-26 was supposed to be the package to beat around Monaco.
And while Leclerc started well, he then dropped back and started struggling with the brakes, or so he says, with his home race ending in the barriers.
Not the best conclusion of the weekend on which the Monegasque and the Scuderia renewed their vows.
As for Hamilton, he was still enjoying the momentum from Canada and managed to outperform Leclerc, driving like the Lewis of old around the principality, evident from the body language of his car.
Hamilton may not have been able to challenge for pole or the win, but he made sure he beat his teammate, kept his improving trajectory going, and was rewarded with second place.
The speeding in the pit lane may have been the only blemish on the seven-time F1 Champion's weekend, but then did you see how many penalties were given because of that? That was bizarre.
In the end, it is clear that Ferrari have no advantage over Mercedes on the chassis front. Monaco proved that, and we know their power unit is rubbish.
But the Maranello squad leave Monaco with two positives. Fred Vasseur being cleared after the health scare and Hamilton's continued resurgence.
Monaco Grand Prix Quick Hits
- Red Bull Racing seem to have the most powerful F1 power unit, which is impressive given the DM01 is their first, but their reliability is rubbish, and Verstappen didn't deserve that DNF, especially after that Qualifying performance.
We were also robbed from a potentially epic fight between the Dutchman and Antonelli. - Russell cannot seem to catch a break. Actually, he is breaking under the beating his teammate has been serving. There is no doubt he is unlucky, but at some point he needs to start making his own luck.
He was outperformed by an inexperienced teenager in Monaco and is now third in the F1 Drivers' Championship and 68 points behind his teammate. Ouch! - What a disastrous weekend that was for McLaren, who were celebrating their 1000th Grand Prix, which was a massive achievement, but the performance of the reigning F1 Champions in Monaco was not worthy of such a milestone.
They were off the pace as reliability bit them again with Lando Norris retiring. - I know that is cheating, but someone please teach Cadillac how to make brakes that don't catch fire. That is ridiculous.
Also, Sergio Perez making the same mistake of lining up in his grid box wrongly isn't what the team was hoping for when they signed the Mexican veteran.
Instead of being the driver who gave Cadillac their first point in F1, Perez is the one who cost them that.
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