Despite extending his championship lead to 66 points, Antonelli recognised that there’s still a lot of ground to cover in the 2026 Formula 1 season.
Antonelli may have led the 22 drivers grid from light to flag; his victory wasn’t without its complications. The young Italian fended off two Safety Cars and a Red Flag to take his first victory in Monaco and his fifth consecutive win of 2026.
But with Summer Break still on the horizon, Antonelli was clear that he’s not about to take his foot off the gas.
“The job’s not finished. It’s still a long season, and we’ve got to keep pushing, keep raising the bar. And the goal is to keep performing like this.” He told Motorsport Week and other media, “The team is doing an incredible job. They’ve given us an incredible car, and I’ve got so much support from the team as well, from my family. So yeah, it’s a really good moment so far.”
A strong lead around Monaco
For the first half of the race, Antonelli controlled the pace calmly, with nearly a 30-second lead. When Lance Stroll crashed in the final corner, the Mercedes driver was challenged with a Safety Car restart. He stayed calm and maintained his lead.
However, the challenges weren’t over for Antonelli as Charles Leclerc met the wall in a similar fate under the restart, bringing out a Red Flag. With a standing grid start, Antonelli faced the trip into Turn 1, but this time with Hamilton beside him.
Though Antonelli once again came out in the lead, he confessed after the race that he was hoping the race wouldn’t be restarted.
“I mean, to be fair, I wasn’t super keen on restarting as well, because I didn’t really want to restart.” He said.
“But then once the notification came out, I just gathered my emotions, my thoughts, and I started to focus again, looked at some data and so on, and just tried to refocus on restarting and then trying to get the tyres in the right temperature.
“Then once I got away, I knew I was going to make it into P1 into the first corner, and then from that point on, I just enjoyed the last few laps.”
Worried for the restart
The Mercedes has struggled with its race starts under the new regulations, with Antonelli used to falling back a few places at the start. While he admitted this was a concern in Monaco with the standing restart, he knew that he’d been taking a step forward since Canada.
“I was frustrated, because Lewis was starting next to me this time and knowing how good they start, I was like, well, I cannot say, I’m going to say a bad word, but I was like, “Oh man.” But luckily, the start went OK.
“Also, he had a lot of wheel spin, so that also made my life a little bit easier in Turn 1. But yeah, it was not easy to refocus after the red flag.”
“Canada was a big step forward on that side. There’s still work to do. I think the first start today was better. The second start was still not amazing, but definitely a good step forward.”
If it wasn’t for the Safety Car, Antonelli would’ve run away with the race lead. A common theme is emerging as the season progresses, with the young Mercedes driver setting his sights on a maiden F1 title.
READ MORE: Lewis Hamilton and Isack Hadjar learn fate after F1 Monaco investigations
Discussion about this post