Charles Leclerc finally wins his home race at Monaco after many set backs at this event. This year’s Formula 1 race wasn’t the most exciting and was largely processional following a red flag and yet this street race victory is special to the Scuderia Ferrari driver.
An ecstatic Leclerc crossed the finishing line 7.1 seconds clear of Oscar Piastri to claim his first-ever victory at the Monaco Grand Prix, after overcoming the McLaren driver at two standing starts after an early red flag, and then set the pace sufficiently to deny a tactical advantage.
Despite periods of pressure from Piastri over the 76 laps of uninterrupted running following the early stoppage, Leclerc absorbed it all and did enough to anticipate a potential McLaren upset by backing up the pack to prevent a potential pitstop window.
In the final stages, Leclerc dropped Piastri to build up a gap that surpassed eight seconds, before electing to back off and “bring it home” to win.
“No words can explain that,” Leclerc said after the race. “It’s such a difficult race, I think the fact that twice I’ve been starting on pole and I couldn’t make it makes it a lot better.
“It was a difficult race emotionally, because already 15 laps from the end you’re hoping nothing happens. I was thinking a lot more to my dad than a lot more when I was driving.
“At first, we had quite a lot of margin but there was 78 laps to do. There was a big portion of the race where I had to manage the gap with George, but then I could push a lot more.”
A first-lap shunt produced the early red flag, as Kevin Magnussen attempted to squeeze his Haas down the inside of Sergio Perez at Beau Rivage. The two made contact. Perez’s car sustained heavy damage as he was tipped into the opposite wall, and also wiped out Nico Hulkenberg in the process.
Heavy damage to the barriers created a 40-minute delay to the race, but that proved not to be the only moment on the opening lap: Carlos Sainz also sustained a front-left puncture into Turn 1 while attempting to pass Oscar Piastri for second, which sent him to the back of the field as he initially pulled over at Casino Square.
The Ferrari driver was handed a lucky break when he was reinstated to his third-place grid slot at the restart.
This changed the dynamic of the race considerably as the field swapped tyres to satisfy the rule necessitating both compounds to be run, theoretically ensuring that everyone could run to the end without stopping.
As such, a tactical game emerged between the Ferraris and McLarens as they tried to deny and create a pitstop window respectively; Leclerc was tasked with slowing the pace down to limit the possibility that Lando Norris could clear George Russell sufficiently to get a free pitstop.
As the laps flew by, McLaren’s chance of causing an upset by giving Norris fresh tyres was reduced as Carlos Sainz did his bit to keep Norris from making further progress on Russell – the gap stalling at about 15 seconds.
With ten laps to go and with no chance for the McLarens to make a stop, Leclerc held his nerve to win – and left Piastri in the clutches of Sainz, who also still had Norris sat on his tail. But neither Sainz nor Norris could make a challenge to claim P2, giving Piastri second.
George Russell held on for fifth after holding off Max Verstappen for over 25 laps despite the Red Bull driver having fresher tyres; Lewis Hamilton’s stop from seventh thanks to a free pitstop window to Yuki Tsunoda gave Verstappen the chance to stop too, but the defending champion could not make the most of his newer hard tyres to mount a pass. Hamilton retained seventh as a result.
Tsunoda claimed eighth after absorbing pressure from Alex Albon throughout the opening 70 laps of the race, banking tyre life in the process to leave the Williams driver for dust in the race’s final act. Through Albon, Williams secured its first points of the season – also the team’s first scoring finish at Monaco since 2017.
Pierre Gasly survived a first-lap encounter with Alpine teammate Esteban Ocon to score the final point. Ocon attempted a lunge at Portier on the opening lap to make tyre-to-tyre contact – which sent him slightly airborne and ultimately caused his retirement.
So congratulations to Charles Leclerc in finally winning his home race. This is fantastic result for the Ferrari driver after setting the pace from opening practice to getting pole in qualifying and this race victory is the perfect way to sign off this Monaco Grand Prix.
Monaco Grand Prix, race results:
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 2:23:15.554
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren +7.152s
3 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +7.585s
4 Lando Norris McLaren +8.650s
5 George Russell Mercedes +13.309s
6 Max Verstappen Red Bull +13.853s
7 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +14.908s
8 Yuki Tsunoda RB +1 lap
9 Alexander Albon Williams +1 lap
10 Pierre Gasly Alpine +1 lap
11 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +2 laps
12 Daniel Ricciardo RB +2 laps
13 Valtteri Bottas Sauber +2 laps
14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +2 laps
15 Logan Sargeant Williams +2 laps
16 Zhou Guanyu Sauber +2 laps
Esteban Ocon Alpine DNF
Sergio Perez Red Bull DNF
Nico Hulkenberg Haas DNF
Kevin Magnussen Haas DNF
Charles Leclerc has finally taken victory in the Monaco Grand Prix, having enjoyed a mostly serene drive to P1 in front of his home fans despite early drama playing out at the start.
The red flags were thrown before the first lap of the iconic event had even been completed after a huge collision between Sergio Perez’s Red Bull and the two Haas cars of Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg, putting all three out of the running.
Leclerc led away cleanly when proceedings were restarted – minus Esteban Ocon, who was forced to retire following heavy contact with Alpine team mate Pierre Gasly on Lap 1 – as a race of strategy played out, with all eyes on whether the leading cars would pit or make it to the end of the event.
But throughout it all, the Ferrari driver kept a cool head and remained ahead of his rivals to take his first win on the streets of Monte Carlo, beating his previous best result of P4.
Leclerc crossed the line seven seconds ahead of Oscar Piastri, who put in an assured drive in the McLaren and held off a late challenge from Carlos Sainz, with the Spaniard making it a double Ferrari podium in third. Sainz likewise was being chased down by Lando Norris throughout much of the latter stages, the second McLaren ending the day in fourth.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/leclerc-clinches-long-awaited-home-win-in-monaco-ahead-of-piastri-and-sainz.4EmeQeb2P27aS8yGIVMOEO
Haas Formula 1 driver Nico Hulkenberg says the Monaco Grand Prix start accident that he fell victim to was “stupid” and “unnecessary from both” Sergio Perez and team-mate Kevin Magnussen.
On the uphill romp towards Massenet, Red Bull driver Perez and Magnussen tangled wheels, sending Perez into a heavy crash that red-flagged the race.
The chasing Nico Hulkenberg also got caught up in the accident after being unable to avoid Perez’s spinning Red Bull clipping his rear axle, ending the race of all three drivers on the spot.
“It was obviously stupid between Kevin and Checo,” Hulkenberg told Sky Germany.
“I don’t know if Checo saw Kevin. Checo could have left space. At the same time, I think Kevin was also very optimistic about staying on there, where the track gets narrower and there are little kinks up to Turn 3.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/hulkenberg-perez-magnussen-monaco-crash-unnecessary-stupid/10616054/
Sergio Perez admitted surprise that Kevin Magnussen was not penalised for his part in their heavy first-lap Monaco Grand Prix shunt, which caused the Formula 1 race’s early red flag.
The Mexican sustained a heavy crash after contact with the Haas driver at Beau Rivage, as Magnussen attempted to thread his car down the inside and found himself rapidly running out of space.
This threw Perez into the barrier with considerable damage to his car, exacerbated when he clipped Nico Hulkenberg – who was attempting to clear the wreck.
No further action was taken by the stewards, and Magnussen reckoned Perez “clearly wasn’t leaving space” despite feeling he had enough of his car up the inside.
“If you see my onboard, at no point you see Kevin’s car – not even close to me, alongside me, and you could see that the wall is just getting closer and closer,” Perez rued.
“To keep it flat out, there was only one way out of it, and it was either contact with my car or with the barrier.
“There was just simply no room for both cars and at some point, he had to realise that – I mean, I’ve been in that occasion – and many times when you are the car behind you just have to realise that it’s time to back off, before things get closer to you.”
“I’m very surprised [the incident was not investigated] because [of] the amount of damage and how dangerous the damage was. I’m really surprised.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/perez-surprised-magnussen-not-penalised-for-monaco-first-lap-shunt/10616132/
Charles Leclerc admitted struggling to see through tears in the closing laps of the Monaco Grand Prix, after chalking up an emotional first Formula 1 win at his home circuit.
The Monegasque led every lap of this year’s edition of the Monte Carlo race, ending a long quest for a home win – a venue he had never previously scored a podium finish at among much-documented ill fortune.
Recounting the final laps of the race, after ending a period of heavy pressure from runner-up Oscar Piastri by bolting into an ultimately unassailable lead, Leclerc revealed that it was a struggle to keep his emotions in check.
Speaking to Sky Sports, the Ferrari driver explained that he had to give himself a brief talking to in the final “two or three laps” to bring the car to the finish before he allowed his emotions to catch up with him again once the victory was secured.
“It’s an amazing feeling. Until now, I’ve never said that it would be a victory like others and I’ve always said emotionally, it will have an added value. However, I did not expect it to be that much,” Leclerc said.
“Two or three laps from the end, I came out of the tunnel and I realised that actually I was struggling to see because my eyes were starting to cry a little bit and I was like, ‘Charles, you cannot afford to do that now. You still have two or three laps to finish to get the win’.
“Then I was fine again but, obviously, crossing the finish line there was so much joy and I’m so incredibly happy.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/leclerc-struggled-to-see-through-tears-on-way-to-monaco-gp-win/10616202/
Oscar Piastri was pleased to claim his first podium result of the season at the Monaco Grand Prix, having taken P2 after being unable to find a way past winner Charles Leclerc in what proved to be a “tricky race”.
Having started from the front row alongside pole-sitter Leclerc, Piastri kept within touching distance of the Monegasque throughout much of the race as the margins remained incredibly fine between the Ferrari and McLaren pairs at the front.
While he slipped back in the latter stages of the event – and had to resist pressure from Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris in third and fourth respectively – Piastri kept his cool and crossed the line in second place, leaving him delighted to score his strongest result of the year so far.
“[It was] a tricky race,” the Australian explained after jumping out of the car. “The pace at the beginning was incredibly slow. I had one little half look before the tunnel, but didn’t have… I didn’t have a small enough car to fit into the gap.
“Thanks to the whole team, it’s been a great weekend all round, and nice to finally put a result on the board. I feel like we’ve been very strong for the last few weekends but didn’t really have the result to show for it, so it’s nice to have a podium, and what better place?”
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/piastri-thrilled-with-monaco-podium-after-tricky-race-as-norris-hails.4UkcJ2KnCDRj973mwvEKtP
Pierre Gasly has urged Alpine team-mate Esteban Ocon to “make a change” following their collision on the first lap of the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix.
Alpine had its best qualifying result of the season in the principality, with Gasly and Ocon qualifying 10th and 11th respectively on a track where overtaking is notoriously difficult.
Carlos Sainz’s puncture at the start promoted the blue-and-pink cars to ninth and 10th, but Ocon went on to dive down the inside of his team-mate at Portier, with their wheels interlocking.
Ocon was launched into the air and had to retire due to the resulting suspension and gearbox damage when his car landed heavily on the ground.
Meanwhile, Gasly was able to keep racing despite a punctured hard tyre, with the red flag coming in handy to get new medium rubber he had to nurse to the finish. He scored his first point of the season in a very uneventful race.
“It was very unnecessary; you should never have such a situation, especially between team-mates,” Gasly said.
“Just sad. Disappointed with the situation. Especially, we had clear instructions before the race on what to do, and whoever qualified ahead, the trailing car was supposed to help throughout the race.
“That was the strategy. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen. We definitely need to speak because we can’t afford [it] – especially in a season like that.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/gasly-ocon-has-to-change-after-unnecessary-crash-at-f1-monaco-gp/10616241/
Max Verstappen says he was ‘quite bored’ during the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix as he was “not really racing” due to the tyre strategies and difficulty in overtaking.
The Red Bull driver started and finished in sixth place, as the whole of the top 10 remained unchanged, in a race starved of action after the opening-lap red flag caused by Sergio Perez’s clash with the two Haas drivers, which enabled all the remaining drivers to swap tyres and gain a free pitstop.
Despite Verstappen being one of the few drivers to opt for a second change of tyres, covering off Lewis Hamilton’s undercut attempt a lap earlier, and duly charging back up to the rear of George Russell’s Mercedes, he couldn’t find a way through even with a huge tyre advantage.
“After the red flag our strategy was ruined as we had to put the medium on to the end as everyone had a free stop, and that meant that we had to save a lot,” Verstappen explained.
“I just tried to follow George and we were so off the pace trying to manage the tyres. That is of course quite boring out there, driving literally half-throttle on the straights in some places, a gear higher than you would normally do and four seconds off the pace, so that is not really racing.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/verstappen-f1-monaco-gp-was-not-really-racing/10616231/