Kimi Antonelli avoided the late drama of the Monaco Grand Prix to consolidate his lead at the top of the Drivers’ Championship standings even further, beating Lewis Hamilton and Isack Hadjar in an exhilarating race that saw seven drivers retire.
At lights out in Monaco, the Mercedes driver calmly maintained first place as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen faced a devastating issue at the start that saw him slide down the order before he became the first to DNF.
While others struggled with various mechanical problems that forced them out of the action, including Valtteri Bottas and McLaren driver Lando Norris, Antonelli consistently opened up his advantage over the Ferrari pair of Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.
However, his win was threatened with around 20 laps remaining when Lance Stroll crashed at the final corner of the Circuit de Monaco, bringing out a Safety Car that allowed many to take a second pit stop without losing too much time.
It may have put Antonelli’s lead in danger, but it offered a brilliant opportunity for those who had been handed time penalties for speeding in the pit lane to serve them during the race.
The restart was short-lived as local favourite Leclerc experienced an identical crash to Stroll’s and the event was halted to inspect track break-up at the site. His DNF helped promote Hadjar to his first Red Bull podium – Pierre Gasly finished ahead on the road but dropped down the order thanks to two five second penalties.
The full top 10 are- P1: Antonelli, P2: Hamilton, P3: Hadjar, P4: Piastri, P5: Lawson, P6: Lindblad, P7: Gasly, P8: Albon, P9: Ocon and P10: Alonso.
What a result for Antonelli! Exactly what he would’ve wanted after he knew he was starting in an ideal position, he did well to handle both the Safety Car and Red Flag. As for Russell, a race to forget for him, we knew he wouldn’t really get the opportunity to do much overtaking but it went from bad to worse when he didn’t serve his 5 second time penalty when he pitted, he then got penalised with a drive through penalty which saw him finish 12th.
Another podium for Hamilton, a really strong showing for the Ferrari driver this weekend, and fully deserved the podium. As for his teammate, unfortunate for him to crash so late on in the race as it was looking like a double podium for the Ferrari team, but it was completely out of Leclerc’s control.
3rd for Isack Hadjar, his first podium with the Red Bull boys, and fully deserved aswell, the team will be happy that their ‘2nd car/driver’ is doing exactly what they want. As for Max Verstappen, a horrible day for him, he had problems on the formation lap with getting away and then he just couldn’t get going when the lights went out and when he did, he didn’t have full power, so had to pit and retire – very unfortunate from him as he had a good qualifying!
4th for Piastri, a good result for the McLaren driver after a mediocre qualifying like I said in the qualifying post for him it will be capitalising on others misfortune. As for the reigning World Champion an unfortunate race for him having to retire the car after loosing speed.
Double points for the Racing Bulls, 5th for Lawson and 6th for Lindblad, a really strong showing from the drivers and team as a whole.
7th for Gasly, even though initially he crossed the line in third, it would’ve been great to see him on the podium again, but I suppose we will have to wait a little while longer!
It’s been an incredible weekend, an incredible race. It was one of those days where we had incredible pace and it was just coming all so naturally. The car was feeling incredible and it was just giving me the confidence to push, so it was a very enjoyable day.
Antonelli on the win.
Jordan's Track Talk 
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