Wolff hails unbelievable Antonelli, new prince of Monaco
Formula One F1 – Monaco Grand Prix – Circuit de Monaco, Monaco – June 7, 2026 Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli celebrates on the podium with Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff after winning the Monaco Grand Prix REUTERS/Manon Cruz
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MONACO, June 7 : Italian Kimi Antonelli was so superior to any other driver at the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday that Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff was even telling him to slow down.
Antonelli, 19, produced a masterclass of pace and precision to become the youngest ever Monaco winner, remaining unfazed after two safety cars and a red flag caused late chaos.
“It’s unbelievable what he’s able to deliver. Having control, he’s at times 1.5 seconds quicker than anyone else,” Wolff said of the new prince of Monaco.
“Then restarts, builds the gap, it’s really unbelievable. It was from (Race Engineer) Bono (Peter Bonnington) at first, then from me! I said to him you have to tell him he has half a minute of an advantage. Then he kept putting in those times and we thought ‘maybe it’s his rhythm’.”
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Antonelli’s fifth successive win looked a formality for much of the race as he put on an exhibition around the glitzy principality, setting fastest lap after fastest lap.
Starting from pole, he quickly built a commanding lead without ever going into the red and still held a lead of more than 20 seconds when the safety car arrived on lap 60 following Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll’s crash at the last corner.
After Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc hit the barriers at the same spot on the resumption and the race was red-flagged for repairs to the crumbling track, Antonelli was suddenly faced with having to do it all again over what amounted to an eight-lap sprint from the day’s second standing start.
With seven-time World champion and three-time Monaco winner Lewis Hamilton alongside him on the re-assembled grid, nerves might have kicked in.
Instead he was perfect again, winning by 6.271 seconds.
“I try to embrace the pressure as much as possible, because I don’t want to let the pressure destroy me like it did last year in the European season,” Antonelli, who finished last in Monaco 12 months ago, said.
“For sure, it was a good test today because with the red flag, I’m not going to lie, I was a bit annoyed because getting the mindset back into redoing a full start was not easy. But it was a good test on that side and I’m happy I didn’t fail.”
Former Mercedes driver Hamilton had been the youngest Monaco winner after his victory, aged 23, in 2008 but the 41-year-old has now been eclipsed by Antonelli.
“I have to start by congratulating Kimi and the Mercedes team,” he said. “My old family, they’ve done it again.
“They’ve created an amazing car and Kimi’s doing an incredible job just delivering weekend in, weekend out.”
Source: Reuters
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