Formula One Gradebook: Monaco Grand Prix
- Maham Mir
- Jun 10
- 11 min read
At the start of Formula One’s European summer was none other than the Crown Jewel of the calendar, the Monaco Grand Prix. The unforgiving walls and narrow roads make the streets of the Principality arguably some of the hardest for any F1 driver and all 22 were tested once again.
Adding a few more records to his name in the process, Kimi Antonelli crossed the line ahead of the rest of the field for a fifth consecutive race win, the second-longest win streak on the current grid.
Only 15 drivers crossed the finish line in the Principality in 2026. Creating new records, the race winner and Mercedes dominated headlines as they returned to winning form in Monaco. Attention was also given to the hometown hero’s crash and the unlikely points scorers at the back of the grid in Aston Martin. Here’s how all 22 drivers performed on race day.
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Mercedes
George Russell: C
One difficult weekend was followed by another for British championship hopeful George Russell as he crossed the line, further than he got in Montreal, but with no points to his name after an unfortunate drive-through penalty saw him drop to 14th in the final race classification. Unable to match his teammate’s pace in qualifying and the race, Russell remained on the back-foot throughout the weekend.
During the race, Russell came under investigation for a number of possible impediments however was only penalised for crossing the line at the pit exit which gave him a five-second time penalty.
After coming into the pits for a tyre change that his race engineer advised against, the pit-crew did not serve his penalty correctly which prompted the stewards to give a drive-through penalty. Heading into Barcelona, Russell will need a stellar weekend and a race win to attempt to close the gap of 68 points between himself and the championship leader.
Kimi Antonelli: A+
In one word, the young Italian driver’s weekend was entirely and utterly flawless. Since stepping into the car on Saturday morning, Antonelli and his Mercedes did not step out of line. Becoming the youngest driver to ever win the Monaco Grand Prix, collecting a career first Grand Slam in the process, Antonelli gave Mercedes their first pole position and win in the Principality since 2019.
Whilst everyone behind was concerned with issues such as speeding in the pitlane, or in the case of his teammate, failing to serve a time-penalty correctly, Antonelli remained calm under pressure and led the race from lights to flag even with the restarts. Having now extended his championship lead to 66 points over Lewis Hamilton in second, there can be no doubt that Antonelli will be arriving in Barcelona with an extra boost to his championship bid.
Ferrari
Charles Leclerc: DNF
It was a weekend filled with disappointment for the home-town hero Charles Leclerc who failed to take the chequered flag after a self-reported brake issue saw him in the wall. On a weekend where Ferrari were considered to be favourites, Leclerc had no answer for the pace of the Mercedes in qualifying especially after his final push lap in Q3 saw him hit the wall. As a result, he was forced to accept a starting position of fourth.
During the race, Leclerc had no answer for the pace of the Mercedes of Antonelli and even his teammate’s Ferrari ahead. On Lap 66 of the race, only a few laps after an Aston Martin went into the wall, Leclerc went off which brought his weekend to a premature end.
Lewis Hamilton: A+
One success followed another for seven-time world champion Hamilton who recorded his first consecutive podiums with this new team and a record-equalling eighth podium on the streets of Monaco, matching the record set by Ayrton Senna. For the second weekend in a row, Hamilton retained his position as the lead Ferrari with his third-place start for the Grand Prix.
Even without the race win or a front-row start, a feat almost impossible considering that those ahead of him seemed to be in a league of their own, Hamilton enjoyed the perfect weekend.
While he was one of the many drivers to be given a time penalty for speeding in the pit-lane, he was able to build a gap to his teammate which kept his second-placed finish from coming under threat. Going into the next round of the season, it seems as though Ferrari and Hamilton have started to get the best out of each other.
McLaren
Lando Norris: DNF
The woes continued for the reigning world champion on a circuit where he set the lap record this time last year. After an already difficult qualifying where an eighth-placed start was the best that could be salvaged from the situation, issues with his battery and power unit saw him back into the pits on Lap 45. For the first time in 2026, Lando Norris has now recorded back to back DNFs after a similar issue in Montreal also saw him end his weekend early.
Oscar Piastri: B
It was a quiet weekend for Oscar Piastri as he was, for the second time this season, the only McLaren to cross the line. The team, who were celebrating their 1000th Grand Prix in Monaco, had a far from ideal weekend when Piastri as the lead car could qualify no higher than seventh.
Throughout the race, Piastri remained largely out of trouble given the large gaps to the teams ahead and the teams behind as well. Uncharacteristic of the driver, he too was given a five-second penalty and yet remained within contention for the podium until Hadjar’s investigation had been cleared.
After a disappointing result for their 1000th Grand Prix, McLaren will no doubt be trying to find answers for their lack of performance and hoping to turn things around in time for Barcelona.
Red Bull
Max Verstappen: DNF
Starting on the front-row, Max Verstappen’s weekend went from opportunity to disappointment quickly after the five lights went out when the Dutch driver failed to make it off the mark. Despite the potential in the Red Bull this weekend, the issues with his Ford power unit meant that the four-time former world champion lost the opportunity to add points to his overall tally. This unfortunate result was his eighth first-lap retirement of his career.
Isack Hadjar: A
After a difficult start to the weekend with a high-impact crash in FP1, Hadjar’s turnaround for a first podium with his new team cannot be applauded enough. Struggling with a host of issues during the 78 laps of the Monaco Grand Prix, Hadjar and his garage were working overtime to find solutions that never arrived.
Although the young French driver took to the podium to celebrate with Hamilton and Antonelli, whom he was promoted into F1 with at the start of 2025, he remained under investigation for a potential red flag infringement. Hours after the race, it was confirmed that he could keep his podium finish and became the first non-Verstappen Red Bull podium finisher since the 2024 Chinese Grand Prix.
Haas
Oliver Bearman: DNF
Opening lap contact with his teammate meant that Oliver Bearman’s race was compromised before it really got started. On a track where track position is of the utmost importance, Bearman’s early pit-stop where he had to change his front-wing left him at the back. Eventually, the young British driver was called in as secondary damage from the contact proved terminal.
Esteban Ocon: B+
It was a quiet weekend for Esteban Ocon who found himself in the right place at the right time to benefit from the retirements ahead. Starting the race ahead of his teammate, a difficult opening lap for Bearman meant that the two Haas cars came together.
Ocon, who managed to emerge from the incident without damage, was able to keep his head down and had a relatively quiet race otherwise. Remaining in the mix for the final few points scoring positions amongst the likes of Williams and Racing Bulls for a large majority of the race, Ocon crossed the line in ninth.
Racing Bulls
Arvid Lindblad: A+
As one of only two teams to have both of their drivers take the chequered flag, Racing Bulls made the best of their individual experiences with both drivers recording their career best finishing positions. Arvid Lindblad, in only his sixth Grand Prix, scored points in Monaco despite starting in 15th.
With decent pace in his VCARB03, Lindblad was able to battle with both Williams cars on track. The well-timed red flag meant that Lindblad was able to change his tyres and fulfill the requirement without losing any time in a pit-stop, leaving him to keep his on-track position and cross the line behind his teammate for a career best finish of sixth.
Liam Lawson: A+
A fantastic effort from Liam Lawson saw him start the race in the top 10; although this was thrown into jeopardy with a potential mechanical issue, he was able to line up in his original starting position. With quick pace, he was able to keep up with the other front and midfield runners ahead, sticking in the mix of things
Crossing the line in fifth, a career best finish, Lawson’s weekend was determined by his own rapid pace as well as being in a position to benefit from drivers facing issues ahead of him. The partnership of Lawson and Lindblad is proving to be a successful one, collecting 39 points and leaving them ready to battle with Alpine ahead.
Audi
Gabriel Bortoleto: C
After a difficult qualifying session on Saturday which determines so much of a driver’s race in Monaco, Gabriel Bortoleto’s race went from bad to worse as a mechanical issue just ahead of lights out saw him relegated to a pitlane start. Similar to Bearman’s fortunes, Bortoleto’s race was also almost over before it had an opportunity to start as the back of the pack or being in the thick of traffic were his only experiences in Monaco on this occasion.
All things considered, Bortoleto did well to rise up the grid as much as he did, however there can be no doubt he was helped by the retirements ahead as he crossed the line in 13th.
Nico Hülkenberg: C
Like his teammate, Nico Hülkenberg also had a difficult time this weekend even if the pace of the car looked decent at times. A relatively uneventful face until after the red flag, the German driver seemed as though he was set to benefit from Russell’s drive-through penalty; however Hülkenberg was soon hit with a penalty of his own.
Shortly after the final restart, Hülkenberg made contact with a Williams which forced the latter to retire from the race. As a result of the incident, Hülkenberg was given a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision which saw him drop from ninth to 13th on the timesheets.
Given the issues Audi have been having with their power unit, taking the chequered flag for both should be a reason for optimism for the rest of the season.
Alpine
Pierre Gasly: B+
Perhaps no other driver was more disappointed with the slew of time penalties handed out by the stewards during Sunday’s Grand Prix than Pierre Gasly, who lost out on a maiden Monaco podium as he dropped from third to seventh on the time sheets. Although Alpine had a less than stellar weekend as a whole, Gasly’s ability to put himself in a position to benefit from the retirements ahead of him meant that he was running in the podium places until the final stint of the race.
Gasly, who had been given two separate time penalties for speeding in the pit-lane, crossed the line and took the chequered flag in third however was denied the opportunity to step onto the podium. Despite the clear disappointment in losing the podium, Gasly scored valuable points for his team who are fifth in the Constructors’ with 41 points.
Franco Colapinto: C
Arriving in Monaco with a string of decent results, Franco Colapinto’s performance left much to be desired after a less than ideal qualifying already placed him on the back-foot for Sunday’s Grand Prix. For a large majority of the race, Colapinto was stuck in traffic and far from the points-scoring positions.
Being one of the many drivers to be penalised for speeding in the pit-lane, it became clear that there wasn’t much that he could do in order to salvage his weekend. In the final stages of the race, Colapinto was the victim of contact which damaged his race and also tagged one of the Williams cars in the process. Although he was found not to be at fault by the stewards, it was another reason to be disappointed with the weekend as a whole.
Williams
Carlos Sainz: DNF
Williams seemed as though they were on-track for an excellent weekend with both cars showing the pace to fight for points. Carlos Sainz, who started in 12th, was running on a different strategy compared to his teammate.
However, the red flag and the race restart drastically shifted things for the Spanish driver as he was nothing but a passenger in the contact which ended his race early. As a result of his retirement, his streak of always scoring points in Monaco came to an end.
Alex Albon: B+
Alex Albon also had a relatively straightforward weekend with the car showing flashes of pace. Although qualifying did not exactly go entirely according to plan as he was outside of the top 10, Albon was able to capitalise on Verstappen’s first-lap retirement to bring himself up into the points.
A later deployment issue hampered his progress slightly; team orders issued from the pitwall saw a similar result as the Thai driver briefly dropped outside of the points-scoring positions.
However, after keeping his head down especially after the restart, Albon was able to make a success of the weekend by coming home in eighth with some much-needed points.
Cadillac
Sergio Pérez: B-
Sunday began with issues for the multiple Grand Prix winner as Sergio Pérez was given a drive-through penalty before the race began after accidentally putting his Cadillac into Bortoleto’s empty grid spot. However, the former Red Bull driver tried to make the best out of the situation and continued to keep his head down and drive.
As the cars ahead faced issues of their own, Pérez found himself in a position that the newest team on the grid did not expect themselves to be in so early on in their F1 career — on the fringes of points. With Hülkenberg ahead carrying a penalty, Pérez was set to inherit 10th however a post-race penalty of his own saw the Mexican driver out of the top 10 in the end.
Valtteri Bottas: DNF
As one of the earliest retirees of the Grand Prix, Valtteri Bottas did not spend too much time on track in Monaco on this occasion. Following an already disrupted weekend, the Finn recorded his second DNF of the season so far. Although Bottas was not the only driver to deal with overheating temperatures in his car, the issue proved fatal for the Cadillac driver as he was forced to retire due to overheating brakes on Lap 15.
Aston Martin
Fernando Alonso: B-
Points were perhaps the furthest of things from Fernando Alonso’s mind at the start of the weekend given the track-record of the Aston Martin team so far this season. However, the two-time former world champion walked away from Monaco having finally opened the team’s account in the Constructors’ standings in 2026.
Showing flashes of pace compared to their own performances in the first few rounds of the season, there can be no doubt that Alonso was greatly helped by the seven retirements further up the field. Even with that considered, it was smart driving by the Spanish driver which put him in a position to gain when Pérez was given a penalty that dropped him out of the points and saw Alonso promoted instead.
Lance Stroll: DNF
Off the back of a disappointing result at his home Grand Prix in Montreal last time out, it was yet another difficult weekend for Lance Stroll whose accident brought out a Safety Car after having already been given a penalty for track limits violation. Bringing out the latest Safety Car in the history of the Monaco Grand Prix on Lap 60, Stroll noted that the crash was not a surprise as he had “been dealing with driveability issues all season, and it was the same again this weekend”.
Looking Ahead
F1’s European summer has officially begun with five races taking place over the next seven weeks. With a return to the Circuit de Barcelona coming up next, a track where the promise of racing action is almost always delivered on, only time will tell what new headlines (or records) might emerge in Round 7 of the 2026 championship.
Edited by Meghana Sree
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