It's Kimi Antonelli's Formula 1 title “to lose” or so his Mercedes teammate George Russell says. At the Monaco Grand Prix this week, for once they might both lose.
The 19-year-old Antonelli has won four races in a row for a vast 43-point lead and, between him and Russell, Mercedes has won every grand prix this year.
Ferrari went fastest in both practice sessions on Friday as hometown hero Charles Leclerc and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton showed they could be the ones to end the Mercedes streak.
The Canadian Grand Prix spiced up the title race as Russell and Antonelli battled wheel to wheel for lap after lap, only for an engine failure on Russell's car to spoil the show.
“You’ve got such a buffer, it feels like you can only keep it or you can lose it. And I think it’s his to lose," Russell said on Thursday. “So, my mindset is to enjoy every single race, try and win every single race. I just need to continue being the guy who’s coming out on top, even if he’s the one at the moment who’s getting the results.”
Mercedes has had the car to beat all year but it might be Ferrari in front in Monaco. Leclerc's and Hamilton's cars have a smaller turbocharger which might give them a quicker kick of power out of the many slow corners.
“If there’s one track I would bet on us, it’s probably Monaco,” said Leclerc, who's fresh off signing a new contract at Ferrari.
Ferrari leads practice
Leclerc backed up that talk in Friday's first practice session, going fastest by .226 of a second ahead of teammate Hamilton. Max Verstappen was third fastest, .513 off the pace, bumping Antonelli and Russell down to fourth and fifth.
Verstappen's Red Bull teammate Isack Hadjar crashed into the barriers to cause a brief stoppage.
Hamilton led the way in the second session, beating Leclerc by .111, with Verstappen third fastest, Russell fourth and Antonelli fifth.
It was a day to forget for McLaren ahead of its 1,000th race in F1 as Lando Norris stopped on track in the second practice after losing power. He and Oscar Piastri struggled to match the pace of Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull.
Unique test in Monaco
Monaco's tight and twisty streets create a race unlike any other. Three-time world champion Nelson Piquet likened it to riding a bicycle around your living room.
This year, it feels almost like a different class of racing altogether.
For the first time, there's a de facto speed limiter reducing electrical power when the car is going over 200 kph (124 mph) on safety grounds, and the new-for-2026 moving aerodynamic parts for straight-line speed won't be used in Monaco. Essentially, the track is being treated like one big corner.
Mercedes, Red Bull and McLaren have put miniature “winglets” on their cars for extra downforce instead of the components that would usually move the wings.
Monaco races tend to be processions, but qualifying is tense and often spectacular, all the more so because grid position is extra important when overtaking in Sunday's race is near impossible.
With Cadillac on the grid, there will be two more cars on track for a total of 22. That could make qualifying more of a lottery, especially the extra crowded first session.
Vegas soars over Monaco
Old-school glamor and modern glitz collided on Thursday night as F1 used a swarm of 3,000 drones over Monaco's port to announce a 10-year contract extension for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Monaco pioneered the mix of casinos, celebrity and street racing that fuel Las Vegas' F1 project. Since its 2023 debut following F1's boom in the United States, Las Vegas has become a contender to surpass Monaco as the standout social event on the calendar.
F1 president Stefano Domenicali called Las Vegas the “premier destination for great racing, world-class entertainment, global business leaders, A-list celebrities and influencers” on Thursday. It was a description that until recently only applied to Monaco.
Las Vegas was the first race F1 promoted in-house, in effect a big bet on the U.S. market and one that so far seems to be paying off.
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
James Ellingworth, The Associated Press
