Kimi Antonelli wins chaotic Monaco Grand Prix after Charles Leclerc crash causes red flag

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Kimi Antonelli won the Monaco Grand Prix in thrilling fashion, with Lewis Hamilton and Pierre Gasly crossing the chequered flag at Monte Carlo to earn a podium finish.

Max Verstappen’s race began in disaster, as his car just stopped working at the start of the race, allowing Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc to completely surpass him and secure the top three to start the race.

His poor start did allow Max’s Red Bull teammate, Isack Hadjar, to move into P4, with George Russell right behind him. This poor start ended in disaster, as Verstappen ended up retiring from the race.

The race did not start well for either McLaren driver, with Pierre Gasly passing Lando Norris at the start of the race.

However, things did go very well for Sergio Perez, who used the chaos of the start of the race to move into P14 by the fourth lap. It didn’t last long, though, as Perez was given a drive-through penalty, which forced him to go to the pits.

Entering Lap 20, Liam Lawson, Alex Albon, and Carlos Sainz managed to settle into P9, P10, and P11, respectively.

Both Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll managed to drag the Aston Martin up to P16 and P17, up five places from where they started the races.

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Valtteri Bottas was the second driver to retire, as braking issues with his tyres forced him to end his race earlier than either he or Cadillac would have hoped.

Russell began to push against Hadjar, trying to overtake him, only for the French driver to cut across the track in a controversial move.

Just behind both drivers, there was an equally intense battle between Norris and Gasly heading into Lap 30, but the Alpine driver managed to hold him off well enough.

With Hadjar coming out of the pits, Russell pulled off an undercut that allowed him to overtake him, even though it came when both drivers were behind after going to the pits.

Unfortunately for Lewis Hamilton, his pit stop, despite seeming well-timed, earned him a five-second penalty after speeding in the pit lane.

Russell followed in his former teammate’s footsteps, earning himself a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane as well as at the halfway point in the race. And later, he was noted for another infraction in the pit lane, which put even more pressure on him.

There was a five-second-penalty fever in Monaco, as Franco Colapinto earned himself a five-second penalty around the 41st lap.

And it was in Lap 46 where Norris was forced to retire after long-standing issues with his power unit, marking a terrible weekend for the reigning world champion.

READ MORE: Max Verstappen’s ‘advice’ to Kimi Antonelli comes back to haunt him after Monaco Grand Prix DNF

Things did get interesting during the latter stages of the race, as Lance Stroll’s crash caused him to retire and forced a safety car.

Outside of George Russell, every driver with a five-second penalty, which also included Oscar Piastri and Pierre Gasly at this point, managed to serve their time penalty.

Just as the safety car ended, Charles Leclerc’s home race ended in disaster, as he crashed in the 66th lap, thus forcing yet another safety car.

This crash exposed a problem with the track in the final portion of the race, thus forcing a red flag as officials tried to address the issue.

Both Gasly and Russell managed to earn more penalties in the period, with Isack Hadjar doing the same with his own pit lane activity.

With a standing start announced, the race came down to just eight laps when the action resumed. In the restart, Hadjar lost a possible podium due to a bad start.

A bad tag from Colapinto led to Carlos Sainz being forced into an early end to his race almost immediately after the restart.

After serving his penalty, Russell found himself in P14, his worst race finish this season so far, made worse by Antonelli managing to win the race.

Lewis Hamilton managed a second consecutive podium finish for the first time since joining Ferrari, with Isack Hadjar securing his first podium finish with Red Bull.