The Monaco Grand Prix Review
Max Verstappen takes his fourth victory of the year despite chaos from a late rain shower, leading Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin and Esteban Ocon in the Alpine.
Image via @OconEsteban on Twitter
Verstappen was quick off the line to maintain his pole position advantage over Alonso. It was clear from the get-go that the teams had planned for only one pit stop, however a rain shower hitting the track meant that the original plans were thrown out.
Alonso pitted early when only part of the track was damp and took the medium option, but as the rain got heavier, he was back into the pit lane for the intermediates, and the rest of the field were quick to make the same move.
Image via Formula1.com
After surviving contact with the wall, Verstappen went straight from the mediums to the intermediates, a crucial move that would end up solidifying his victory. He was able to get back into his rhythm and crossed the line with a 27-second lead.
Despite having to pit for a second time, Alonso was able to maintain 2nd place to bring home Aston Martin’s best result of the season whilst Ocon was able to convert his qualifying performance into a 3rd place.
The long-awaited updates for the Mercedes helped them rack up a good haul of points with Lewis Hamilton bringing it home in 4th and his teammate George Russell taking 5th despite a five-second time penalty after the slippery conditions took him off-track and he clashed with Sergio Perez whilst trying to re-join the race.
The home-hero Charles Leclerc finished where he started the race in 6th after he was given a three-place grid penalty for impeding Lando Norris in qualifying. The second Alpine of Pierre Gasly finished in 7th just in-between the two Ferraris as Carlos Sainz finished in 8th after a spin out in the wet conditions lost him positions.
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The McLarens took a double point scoring finish with Lando Norris finishing in 9th and Oscar Piastri taking the last point. The McLaren pair were both able to make late moves on the AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda to get into the top 10.
The Alfa Romeo duo just missed out on the points as Valterri Bottas took 11th place and Zhou Guanyu took 13th with the other AlphaTauri of Nyck De Vries sandwiched in-between the pair in 12th place.
Alex Albon took 14th place ahead of Yuki Tsunoda who suffered lockups and had complaints about the brakes after he’d been passed by the McLarens. Sergio Perez came home in 16th after a crash in Q1 put him 20th on the starting grid.
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The Haas of Nico Hulkenberg finished in 17th after a messy race having hit Logan Sargeant on Lap 1 resulting in a five-second penalty which was then served incorrectly, resulting in an additional ten-second penalty.
Logan Sargeant was the last of the finishers after he suffered from an early puncture. Lance Stroll was the first to DNF on lap 63 after he suffered an array of incidents, and Kevin Magnussen retired his Haas on lap 76 after he was the last driver to pit for intermediates which resulted in a clash with the wall.
The good news is we don’t have to wait long for the next Grand Prix as the Spanish Grand Prix kicks off this weekend! Will the Red Bulls continue their winning streak? Or will one of the home heroes take the victory?
