Lewis Hamilton is in revival after finishing second to Kimi Antonelli at the Monaco Grand Prix. The 41-year-old’s best hope of winning an eighth world title lies in the news in the last 24 hours that his Ferrari team, along with Mercedes, have been granted an engine upgrade by the governing FIA.
Formula One nomenclature calls it, if you will, the Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities system (ADUO) based on the current strength of engine performance under the all-fresh 2026 regulations.
Red Bull are deemed to lead the way in power units, testimony to the departed Christian Horner’s pioneering leadership, in the first year of the team’s engine production. They are set as the benchmark by which their rivals are evaluated.
Mercedes, according to the FIA, are two per cent behind Red Bull’s output. They will be granted one engine upgrade this year, while Ferrari, along with Audi and Honda, will be permitted two upgrades for falling four per cent short of Red Bull’s grunt.
These arcane nuances of engines apart, there is a not-unrelated spring in Lewis’s step. He seems a man at ease at the wheel, contented he has rediscovered his mojo with two podiums in the last couple of races, albeit in the shadow of Monaco’s supreme race winner this weekend, Antonelli.
After finishing runner-up in the Principality, Hamilton vowed to chase 19-year-old Kimi all the way to the line. Sixteen races remain, and yet it would be a brave Scuderia devotee to bet in favour of the ‘GOAT’ devising an eighth wonder.
Lewis Hamilton seems a man at ease at the wheel, contented he has rediscovered his mojo with two podiums in the last couple of races
But Kimi Antonelli in his Mercedes will be hard to beat even though 16 races remain
Mercedes remain the team to beat and Antonelli, not struggling George Russell in the other Silver Arrow, is in firm charge. He is 66 points ahead of Hamilton and 68 ahead of Russell. Antonelli has won the last five races. Russell was dominant in the first round in Melbourne but nothing so assured since, though hijacked by bouts of misfortune. Hmmm, he is up against a colleague with pace to burn.
Can Hamilton turn water into wine? Mercedes look too powerful for that, even allowing for the incoming recalculation. The mood in their camp is serene.
A thought is whether Hamilton should have stayed at Mercedes rather than have decamped to Ferrari last season. For all his resurgence it remains to be seen whether, at 41, he is the miracle-maker of old.
As for Russell, is he destined to live out a role as a David Coulthard to a Mika Hakkinen, namely in the guise of Antonelli? Russell says he remains optimistic about his ambitions. But for now, the odds are against him. If he turns around his deficit it would equate to one of Formula One’s greatest recovery acts.
My own take is that Antonelli is favourite to be world champion, the youngest ever. The only question is if the Italian can withstand the pressure of leading, all pursuers gunning for him. Sorry, George, in a revision of all I thought and hoped for, I suspect he can.
He’s quick. Full stop. And what can Lewis or George do about that?
When Gordon Ramsay was roasted by Sir Stirling
Perhaps the best unintended put-down I ever witnessed came at Monaco a few years back. Sir Stirling Moss, lost to us on Easter Sunday of the first Covid lockdown, was sitting on his shooting stick on the grid when Gordon Ramsay leapt to greet the great driver of yesteryear.
‘Hello, Stirling,’ ventured the potty-mouthed cook.
‘Hello,’ replied Stirling, totally nonplussed by his new ‘friend’. Sir ‘Stirl’, or ‘Bonk’ as he was known to his son Elliot, collapsed his shooting stick and nonchalantly walked off. He had no clue about the identity of the Glaswegian blowhard who had just greeted him.
Yes, there are heroes of the track and there are multiple hangers on who seek fame by association.
At Monaco, Stirling Moss once delivered an unintended put-down when he dismissed the chef Gordon Ramsay without a care in the world
Why Monaco is still full of magic
Monaco remains in my imagination the most spectacular race on the calendar. Watching it on TV, with the greatest respect to the telly box, does not do it justice.
I walked to the swimming pool chicane to verify that view this weekend, as I always do.
To see the cars through the catch-fence there leaves no doubt in the mind about the validity of what Ernest Hemingway described as one of only three true sports – bullfighting, motor racing and mountaineering.
I always explain to those who have not experienced the same sensation, harbour-adjacent, that the magic lies not only in the acceleration at full throttle but the braking from a million miles per hour to half-a-million.
Nowhere showcases this apotheosis of physics defiance better than Monte Carlo. And even those on the yachts, however splendidly oiled, must marvel at the sight. It is a sporting experience beyond compare, as Papa H would attest if he hadn’t blown his brains out.
Monaco remains in my imagination the most spectacular race on the calendar
Horner’s conundrum
Christian Horner is in a tricky spot. He is free to return to the sport after his severance deal with Red Bull has been seen out.
He has – and remains to have – several balls in the air. He is the best team principal this century but devising a passage back to frontline Formula One is an elusive conundrum to resolve.
Ferrari is, in my view, his most attractive option. But they are doing OK, so his services are not immediately required as a matter of urgency to replace Fred Vasseur as team principal.
He has the backing to buy into Alpine, through taking on the 24 per cent stake held by Otro Capital. But I understand this is a no-go. Talks have stalled. It would have made him a minor shareholder rather than the main man, so it is probably best for all parties that the once-considered deal is parked.
Any team taking on Horner needs to give him his head, as Dietrich Mateschitz did at Red Bull during two periods of extravagant success. Enabling the best, giving them the keys to the car, is the only way.
His pal Flavio Briatore, the old goat who runs Alpine aged 76, is, I understand, unwilling to yield supremacy as Alpine’s de facto team principal to Horner.
Pals? How do you spell that four-letter word in the Formula One vocabulary?
Another option is to lead a 12th team into the sport, for he has been linked to Chinese company BYD wanting to join the circus. These negotiations are tentative and at an early stage.
Anyway, that would mean a five-year-or-so wait to return to the paddock, which seems an unattractively prolonged purgatory. Horner is 52 and has time on his side, but not unlimitedly.
Christian Horner (left) has the backing to buy into Alpine but it seems to be a no-go as team boss Flavio Briatore (right) seems unwilling to relinquish power
Why Ferrari move has stalled
On the Horner topic, I am told that Piero Ferrari, son of founder Enzo, is keen on the former Red Bull boss’s services.
Piero is a key appointer of key employees, not least of drivers going back to the days when his father was close to being God.
The roadblock in this endeavour is Ferrari president John Elkann. So Vasseur, currently in post, can breathe easily for now. And, as we have said, they are doing, well, all right, with hope on the horizon, however illusory it may be. That hardly helps Horner’s cause.
