Hamilton Rolls Back The Years On Monaco’s Unforgiving Streets
Lewis Hamilton extracted everything Ferrari’s SF-26 had to give around the Principality on Sunday, climbing from seventh on the grid to a season-best third — his first podium in red since the switch from Mercedes was confirmed twelve months ago. The seven-time world champion’s drive earned a 9/10 from BBC Radio 5 Live’s Harry Benjamin, the joint-highest score of the weekend, alongside race winner Lando Norris.
For Charles Leclerc, however, the home race delivered nothing of the script he had been writing all week. The Monegasque, who started fourth and spent his early laps trapped behind Oscar Piastri, finished sixth after a botched undercut and a slow second pit stop dropped him out of contention. Benjamin gave him 6/10 — generous, the commentator admitted on air, for a driver who has now failed to reach the podium at his home race in five of the last six attempts.
“Lewis drove that race like it was 2016 again,” Benjamin said in his post-race breakdown. “Charles, through no real fault of his own, watched another Monaco slip away. The fairytale stayed in the storybook.”
The Verdicts: Winners, Losers And The In-Between
Benjamin’s ratings, broadcast on 5 Live’s Chequered Flag podcast on Sunday evening, painted a picture of a race that rewarded patience and punished hesitation. Norris converted pole into a 4.2-second victory over Max Verstappen, leading every lap and managing his tyres with the kind of composure that has eluded him in seasons past. Verstappen, who started third, took second after Piastri’s late strategic gamble backfired in the closing stint.
The full ratings, as delivered by Benjamin:
- Lando Norris — 9/10: Pole, fastest lap, lights-to-flag. A complete weekend.
- Max Verstappen — 8/10: Maximised a difficult Red Bull, kept Hamilton honest.
- Lewis Hamilton — 9/10: Drive of the day. Overtook Piastri at Mirabeau on lap 41.
- Oscar Piastri — 6/10: Strategy gambled, strategy lost. Fell to fourth.
- George Russell — 7/10: Quietly effective fifth, second-best Mercedes weekend of 2026.
- Charles Leclerc — 6/10: Out-qualified by Hamilton, out-raced by the strategy book.
- Carlos Sainz — 7/10: Williams’s best result of the season, P8 from P12.
- Fernando Alonso — 5/10: Aston Martin’s pace deserted him in the second stint.
- Yuki Tsunoda — 4/10: Crashed out at Sainte Devote on lap 14.
- Kimi Antonelli — 8/10: Rookie of the weekend, P7 after starting 11th.
Piastri’s 6/10 reflects the cruellest call of the afternoon. The McLaren pit wall opted to bring him in under a brief virtual safety car on lap 32, only for Verstappen to stay out and inherit track position. By the time Piastri rejoined, the undercut had become an overcut — and the Australian, who had arrived in Monaco trailing Norris by just four points in the drivers’ standings, left it trailing him by eighteen.
What Monaco Means For The Championship
Norris now leads the drivers’ championship by 18 points over Piastri and 34 over Verstappen, with Ferrari’s challenge — once expected to be led by Leclerc — increasingly being shouldered by Hamilton. The 41-year-old’s third place lifts him to fifth in the standings, just nine points behind Leclerc, and ends speculation that his switch to Maranello had been a romantic mistake. Three podiums in eight races is not the title charge Ferrari were promised, but it is more than the team had managed at this stage in 2025.
Monaco’s broader story, though, remains its resistance to overtaking. Sunday’s race produced just eleven on-track passes outside the pit stops — the lowest count of the 2026 season — and renewed debate about whether the FIA’s mandatory two-stop rule, introduced last year to inject jeopardy, has delivered its intended effect. Hamilton’s pass on Piastri at Mirabeau was the only move involving cars inside the top six, and even that required a 0.4-second lock-up from the McLaren driver to make it possible.
For Leclerc, the road forward is familiar. He has now scored just one podium at Monaco in seven Formula 1 starts there, despite three pole positions. His contract runs through 2027, and Ferrari insist their faith remains unshaken — but with Hamilton outscoring him in three of the last four races, the internal dynamic at Maranello has shifted in a way few predicted when the partnership was announced. The next round, the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona on 14 June, will reveal whether Monaco was an aberration or a turning point.
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
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