The debate over the form driver in Formula 1 ended long before Kimi Antonelli picked up a maiden Monaco win, his fifth straight grand prix victory.
But a weekend, which ended with a chaotic race in contrast to the procession of recent years, threw up the question of who is his biggest on-track threat?
Max Verstappen had narrowly missed out on pole position a day earlier only for his car to fail him off the startline in the race. After teammate Isack Hadjar crossed the line in third, one wonders what the Dutchman might have done with a functioning Red Bull.
His pace at the preceding race in Montreal had looked good and he may yet launch some sort of a challenge although he is a lowly seventh place in the drivers’ standings.
There is a 22-year age gap between title contenders Hamilton (left) and Antonelli (Photo: AFP)George Russell, meanwhile, had begun the season as a strong title favourite but, having won the season opener in Melbourne, he has gone from championship leader to 68 points behind his teammate.
He started this weekend declaring it was now Antonelli’s title to lose in an attempt to ramp up some mental games. At F1’s toughest circuit, it had no impact, the Italian teenager producing essentially a perfect weekend.
After qualifying, Russell was completely bamboozled, unable to explain why he could only manage a lap four tenths of a second slower than Antonelli.
The key issue is his inability to get his tyre temperatures up to the required level with his smoother driving style while Antonelli’s more aggressive approach has had exactly the desired effect on the Pirelli rubber. Russell can see the discrepancy in the telemetry but also admits he can’t fix it.
An incredible achievement for Lewis Hamilton as he levels Ayrton Senna for the most podium results in Monaco pic.twitter.com/nLrrvBm5Ze
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) June 7, 2026As his head-scratching has continued, his former Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton has emerged as the previously unexpected best title challenger.
F1 is a fickle business. At the end of last season, he cut a wholly disconsolate figure with suggestions a seven-time world champion’s time in the sport was coming to an end.
Instead, he picked up his eighth Monaco podium on Sunday putting him alongside his idol Ayrton Senna on the all-time list in the principality, his third podium of the season in six races.
The simple mathematics don’t lie: his P2 here catapulted him past Russell and into second in the championship albeit 66 points behind the runaway leader.
What has caused this resurgence in 2026, which only seems to be getting better with each passing weekend?
Ferrari have produced Hamilton a consistently quick car (Photo: PA)One obvious factor was abundantly clear in Monaco in the form of his girlfriend Kim Kardashian, who got more camera time than most of the drivers on the grid. Hamilton has clearly found happiness.
But there have been changes beyond his love life too. Gone is his race engineer Riccardo Adami from his debut Ferrari season with whom he had no shortage of very public, fractious encounters over the team radio.
He has been replaced by Carlo Santi, seemingly temporarily until a long-term solution is found, and Hamilton name checked the race engineer in the wake of his Montreal runners-up spot last month.
It is no secret that Hamilton far prefers this generation of cars compared to the ground-effect era but he is also driving more on instinct, shunning simulator work altogether and instead trusting in his natural ability more.
It helps that Ferrari appear to be less chaotic than in previous seasons – although a ranting Charles Leclerc who crashed out late on would beg to differ – and have produced a consistently quick car.
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Matt Majendie: I know the real Max Verstappen – he is not the monster everyone says Susie Wolff: A female F1 driver is inevitableCan, though, Hamilton pose a genuine title push? At the moment, you’d have to say no as Antonelli and Mercedes remain in a class of their own. The late safety cars and red flag rather disguised the huge advantage – at one point Antonelli had lapped all but two drivers in Sunday’s race.
Hamilton knows where the fix is needed. Post-race, he said: “The car is good but we need more downforce ultimately,” before insisting he and not just the car can get better.
“I’ve got to keep working harder to finally take that next step.”
With each passing race weekend, it feels more and more like a rebirth at the age of 41, and those years of experience could prove crucial – after all, he is nearly 22 years older than the championship contender
To properly declare him back, it feels like a grand prix win is required. No one other than a Mercedes driver has managed that this season but Hamilton currently looks likelier to pull it off than Russell. That only feels like a matter of time.
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