Antonelli's juggernaut: five wins, a 66-point lead, and a title race bending his way
Mercedes have won every race of 2026. Andrea Kimi Antonelli has won five of them in a row. We unpack how the new-era pecking order shook out — and who can still fight back.
Six rounds into Formula 1's biggest rules reset in a decade, one team and one driver have simply run away with it.
After the chaos of Monaco, the 2026 World Drivers' Championship reads like a statement: Antonelli 156, Hamilton 90, Russell 88. Mercedes lead the constructors' on 244 — nearly 80 clear of Ferrari — and have won all six Grands Prix so far. The only chink: McLaren's Lando Norris took the Miami Sprint, the lone non-Mercedes win of the year.
How we got here
George Russell opened the season with victory in Australia. Since then it has been the Antonelli show — China, Japan, Miami, Canada and Monaco, five on the bounce, the kind of streak that turns a promising talent into a champion-elect.
Who can fight back?
Ferrari are the form challengers: Hamilton sits second, and the Scuderia have the second-quickest car. But the gap is the gap. Barring reliability trouble or a Mercedes stumble, the more realistic intrigue is the intra-team fight between Antonelli and Russell — and whether the reigning champions at McLaren can salvage pride.
Standings reflect results through the Monaco Grand Prix (7 June). Monaco's podium carried post-race investigations; treat early-season points as provisional.