Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
MONACO — Kimi Antonelli is writing his place in Formula 1 history at record speed.
"You're catching me up," Lewis Hamilton, who has the most wins in history with 105, told Antonelli after the 19-year-old Italian beat him in a bizarre and much-delayed Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday.
Antonelli replaced Hamilton at Mercedes last year, and only won his first race in March. He now has five wins in a row and a vast lead of 66 points over Hamilton.
Antonelli said he needed to find his focus again but stayed cool when the race was stopped and briefly seemed set to be abandoned before a restart. All that on a tight, twisty circuit threaded between metal barriers where any slip brings a crash.
Antonelli was on course for victory with 10 laps remaining when the race was red-flagged after parts of the asphalt broke away and two cars crashed in quick succession, one of them Charles Leclerc in third place.
After a long delay, officials said the race would be resumed from a standing start. When that happened, Antonelli took control again to become the youngest F1 winner in Monaco, and was never in real danger of being overtaken.
"Thank you so much guys, the car was a beast today," he told the Mercedes team.
Hamilton was second as a raft of penalties and investigations meant other positions weren't immediately clear. Isack Hadjar was on the podium in third for Red Bull after battling engine problems but was one of those under investigation.
Antonelli's Mercedes teammate George Russell missed the points for the second race running, dropping out of the top 10 with a penalty. That followed an engine failure while battling Antonelli for the lead of last month's Canadian Grand Prix.
Russell said Thursday the title was Antonelli's "to lose." Now it certainly seems that way.
Max Verstappen started second for Red Bull but lost power at the start and dropped to the back before retiring the car at the end of the first lap. Like many F1 drivers, the four-time champion lives in Monaco and suggested he'd watch the rest of the race from home.
The track damage put a decidedly un-glamorous twist on one of F1's most prestigious races as drivers waited in the pit lane, officials gazed at the damaged asphalt and a road-sweeping machine inched along the circuit clearing away loose stones. Antonelli admitted he'd been hoping the race wouldn't be restarted at all.
There was more confusion as numerous drivers received time penalties or were under investigation, meaning the final standings remained uncertain.
Hadjar was facing an investigation after the race for a potential breach of red-flag rules. That raised the possibility that McLaren's Oscar Piastri could be promoted from fifth on track to third Sunday evening, ahead of Hadjar and Gasly.
Russell had been second in the standings before the race — the position is Hamilton's now. Russell ended the day in 13th after a hefty penalty for failing to serve an earlier penalty properly. He said he didn't understand what happened.
Sergio Perez crossed the line 10th, which would earn new team Cadillac its first F1 point, but he too was facing an investigation over a possible false start at the restart.
___
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
