Liam Lawson scores equal career-best finish at Formula 1’s Monaco Grand Prix

Monday, 8 June 2026

Liam Lawson equalled his career-best Formula 1 finish, securing a clinical fifth-place finish at a chaotic Monaco Grand Prix to earn 10 championship points.

Seven drivers failed to finish the race due to the widespread carnage, with frontrunners Max Verstappen and Lando Norris among those forced into retirement by mechanical issues.

Mercedes teenager Kimi Antonelli won his first Monaco Grand Prix, securing his fifth consecutive victory of the 2026 season to extend his Drivers' Championship lead to 68 points.

Liam Lawson has kept his nose clean and cashed in on an equal career-best Formula 1 result in a hectic Monaco Grand Prix, finishing in fifth.

After a strong qualifying session, which saw him start from 10th on the grid, Lawson put himself in a prime position to bank points on a track notoriously hard to pass on.

“I'm very, very happy with today,” Lawson said. “It's a great result for the team ending in P5 and P6, particularly given where we started at the beginning of the weekend.

“Races can feel pretty unpredictable at the moment, with cars being forced to retire, so it's important that we capitalise on those moments when they happen.

“I honestly enjoyed the race so much and the team worked incredibly hard to deliver a quick car today, so I'm super grateful to be ending the weekend on a high.'

Mercedes’ teenage flyer Kimi Antonelli continued his dominant start to the 2026 season, winning his first Monaco GP and consolidating his lead at the top of the drivers' championship standings.

The young Italian, seemingly breaking records each grand prix, has now won five races in a row and moves 68 points clear of his team-mate George Russell in the season standings.

Seven drivers didn’t finish in a chaotic renewal of the famous GP, which even had a significant delay in racing and a late race restart due to a part of the racing surface disintegrating.

That delay came after Lance Stroll put his Aston Martin into the fence at the final corner, and then Ferrari's Charles Leclerc crashed out of third position on the restart, in the same spot.

However, Leclerc blamed Ferrari's troublesome brakes as much as the track surface.

A visibly upset Leclerc was close to inconsolable.

“I mean, it’s just not acceptable,” he said. “The issues I have faced with my brakes have been… it’s not that it’s difficult, it’s that in this particular moment it’s just impossible.

“I cannot do anything. The only thing I can do is not brake for the last corner, but in an F1 corner not braking in the last corner ends up in the wall anyway,” Leclerc told media post race.

Lewis Hamilton and Isack Hadjar rounded out the podium positions in Monaco.

Lawson’s Racing Bulls teammate Arvid Lindblad picked up a career best result when he came in sixth.

With Max Verstappen and Lando Norris both retiring with mechanical issues, and a late flurry of penalties after the chequered flag, Lawson’s clinical race was rewarded with a P5 and 10 championship points.

Verstappen never got going from the front row off the grid and was forced to limp back to pit lane and out of the race with a power unit issue, as Antonelli cruised to a lead he would never relinquish.

Norris suffered the same power unit fate as Verstappen on lap 45. He was running eighth, just ahead of Lawson at the time.

Alpine's Pierre Gasly crossed the line in third but two pit-lane speeding penalties dropped him back to seventh in the final wash up.

That elevated Hadjar to the second podium of his career.

Sergio Perez came home in 10th to deliver Cadillac's first F1 point but that was later stripped when he was handed a 10-second time penalty for being out of position on the red-flag restart. As a result, that single point for 10th became Alonso Aston Martin's first of the 2026 season.

Antonelli’s teammate and the pre-season championship favourite George Russell eventually finished way down in 12th after picking up a stack of penalties on an unhappy day for the Brit.

Clearly enjoying an extended period of stability, the Kiwi driver now has 26 season points and moves to ninth in the drivers’ standings.

Formula 1 continues next week in Spain with the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.

Top 10 finishes in the Monaco Grand Prix

1: Kimi Antonelli, 2: Lewis Hamilton, 3: Isack Hadjar, 4: Oscar Piastri, 5: Liam Lawson, 6: Arvid Lindblad, 7: Pierre Gasly, 8: Alex Albon, 9: Esteban Ocon, 10: Fernando Alonso.