Kimi Antonelli drove into the history books by becoming the youngest winner of the Monaco Grand Prix.
Antonelli, 19 years and nine months, delivered an emphatic performance – after the 72nd edition of the prestigious race was suspended on the 68th lap for track repairs – to usurp Lewis Hamilton’s 16-year record.
Hamilton, who finished runner-up to Antonelli here, was 23 when he took his first of three triumphs in the principality in 2008.
He would go on to land his maiden crown later that year. And Antonelli is now the firm favourite to emulate the man he replaced at Mercedes following his fifth consecutive win, and George Russell failing to score on another afternoon to forget for the Brit.
By lap 60 of 78, Antonelli had been more than half-a-minute clear of Hamilton, having lapped the entire field up to the third.
The Italian teenager’s lead was eradicated when Lance Stroll crashed and the safety car was deployed. Then Charles Leclerc – already fuming with the Ferrari pit-wall for stopping him for new tyres after Stroll’s crash – also thudded into the wall at Rascasse.
The event was red-flagged amid significant concerns the temporary street surface was cutting up at the final corner where Stroll and Leclerc had both met their end.
But following temporary repairs and a 37-minute stoppage, Antonelli dealt with the second standing start of the day – two hours and 15 minutes after his first – to see off Hamilton on the short run to Saint Devote to extend, not just his unstoppable streak, but his lead at the title summit from 43 points to 66 points over Hamilton and 68 ahead of his beleaguered and bamboozled Mercedes team-mate Russell.
Russell finished out of the points in 13th after he was hit with a late drive-through penalty for incorrectly serving an earlier five-second sanction for speeding in the pit-lane. It leaves his title hopes in tatters. Isack Hadjar finished third, one place ahead of Oscar Piastri.
World champion Lando Norris, who won in Monte Carlo last season, retired on lap 49 of 78 with engine failure, while Max Verstappen’s race was over before it begun. The four-time world champion staggered off the line as technical gremlins disabled his Red Bull machinery.
Kim Kardashian’s arrival 50 minutes before the start sent the paddock into a frenzy. The American reality star, in a relationship with seven-time world champion Hamilton, found fame through TV show, Keeping up with the Kardashians. And after six of 22 planned races this season, nobody in Formula One can keep up with Antonelli.
His updated points tally of 156 is six more than he managed across 24 rounds of a maiden season littered with a number of erratic displays which 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg claimed earlier his week could have cost him his job. Mercedes stuck with their protege and he is more than vindicating their decision.
Antonelli has been poor off the line this year but here he nailed both getaways and produced composure beyond his tender years.
“It has been an incredible weekend and one of those days where we just had amazing pace,” said Antonelli. “It just came naturally and gave me the confidence to push. The job is not finished, and it is a long season. We have to keep raising the bar.”
Hamilton, after landing his second place in as many races, said: “I have to congratulate Kimi and the Mercedes team. My old family have created an amazing car and Kimi is doing an incredible job to keep delivering. I am really happy for him.
“I can’t keep up with them just yet and it is going to take a lot of work to get to that level but to get another second place is a great feeling.”
Russell won the first race of the season but it has been a downward spiral since. He spent much of today’s fixture behind Red Bull’s Hadjar, and although he fought back to third, his punishment for speeding would cost him dearly, not only in Sunday’s race, but in the championship too.
