F1 Monaco Grand Prix farce as track breaks up and stops race

Monaco Grand Prix

Monaco Grand Prix farce as F1 track breaks up and stops race

Chaos in Monte Carlo

Dan Ripley Global Editor

Professional F1 journalist and analyst

Sunday 7 June 2026 19:13

The world famous Monaco Grand Prix descended into chaos on Sunday after the track surface broke up, with two F1 drivers drivers crashing on the debris from it.

The race around the streets of Monte Carlo has been held since 1929 but for the first time in its history was stopped after concerns were raised over the track surface crumbling away.

A safety car was called out when the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll crashed at the final corner at Antony Noghes on lap 60, with it being assumed he had made an error heading out of Rascasse before careering into the barrier.

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However, after the safety car was called in six laps later, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc crashed at the same corner on the restart on the outside.

The Ferrari driver was furious over the radio, saying: “Honestly I’m not even going to take the f***ing blame. These f***ing brakes!”

Monaco Grand Prix stopped with red flag

Shortly after Leclerc's crash a red flag was brought out and the race was stopped on lap 68 with just 10 laps to go with Kimi Antonelli leading his Mercedes in front of Lewis Hamilton, who was in the hunt for his first Ferrari victory in F1.

The track, on what looked to be a recently resurfaced tarmac, showed significant break up over a thin stretch on the racing line on the left side of the track heading into the final right turn.

Race officials swept up the debris and many stood over the surface in question examining if the race could continue during the red flag.

No work was done to fix the broken track, but it was deemed safe enough to restart the race 35 minutes after the race was stopped.

It was the first time officials took action on an F1 track surface relating to the tarmac since the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix, where cement was placed overnight, with minimal results. However that race was also allowed to continue from start to finish.

Stroll and Leclerc refuse to blame track

Despite running over the marbles from the broken up track, Stroll instead blamed issues with his Aston Martin car.

He said: “For me, I don’t think it was the damage (to the track).

“We had engine braking issues all race, all weekend, all year – some corners it’s pushing me forward with the engine, some corners it’s pulling.

“So, it’s doing different behaviour in different areas, and on this lap it just pushed me into the wall.

“I think it’s a coincidence (that Leclerc crashed too at the same place). Maybe it (the track) was breaking a bit, but my issue was the engine pushing me into the wall.”

Leclerc also claimed the track was not to blame, telling Sky Sports: “Brakes. It doesn’t help to have asphalt that is coming off but data speaks for itself.

“I don’t know how much I can go into the detail. It’s extremely frustrating. I’ve always been very honest, and no matter how many mistakes I do, I would hate to look at myself in the mirror and see myself finding excuses when I do a mistake.

“That’s why I’m always bluntly honest whenever I’m in front of cameras, but I’m not going to take any of it (responsibility for the crash) today.

“It’s not even braking. I touch the brakes and there’s just something with those brakes that… on the front brakes, it just broke a lot more than what I thought, and in the rear brakes, it had no deceleration at all. It was like I had no rear brakes at all.

Once the race was resumed Antonelli held off a charge from Hamilton on the standing start, eventually sealing a comfortable victory - his fifth consecutive victory to open up a 66-point in the championship, and becoming the youngest Monaco winner.

Written by

Dan Ripley - Global Editor

I've been a massive F1 fan since the mid 1990s and continue to study the history of the sport long before that. As an experienced motor sport reporter covering F1, MotoGP and the LeMans 24 Hour race, being part of GPFans has allowed me to work with a diverse team with all sorts of different backgrounds in watching the sport and given me a greater appreciation of F1.

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F1 Charles Leclerc Monaco Grand Prix Lance Stroll