Cloudy. Rain at the end of the race. Air +24С, rail +44…29С
After the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix was canceled due to flooding, the Monaco round opened the European leg of the season – which happened to be the fifth consecutive city round – the oldest round on the calendar.
Many believed that Red Bull Racing’s winning streak could be broken in Monaco – in the first five Grand Prix the team took five wins. But in practice and qualifying, which turned out to be exciting and very interesting, Max Verstappen was in the lead.
Modern cars do not fit on the track in Monaco. Too wide and heavy, with a stiff suspension, unable to compensate for countless bumps. All sessions were interrupted by red flags, even the most experienced racers were involved in accidents. Hamilton crashed into the wall during practice, Perez crashed the car in the first part of qualifying.
Charles Leclerc blocked Lando Norris by slowing down in the tunnel and lost three places at the start due to a decision by the stewards.
Verstappen and Alonso started the race from the front row of the grid, Ocon and Sainz from second, Hamilton and Leclerc from third.
Pirelli brought the softest compositions to the stage – C3, C4 and C5 in the role of Hard, Medium and Soft. Zhou started on Soft, Alonso, Sainz, Leclerc, Gasly, Russell, Piastri, Stroll, Bottas and Magnussen on Hard, the rest on Medium.
Verstappen kept the lead at the start. Stroll collided with Elbon and lost several places. Hulkenberg hit Sargent’s car and received a five-second time penalty.
Hulkenberg, Zhou and Perez turned into the pits, swapped tires – all switched to Hard before the finish.
Top ten in round 2: Verstappen – Alonso – Ocon – Sainz – Hamilton – Leclerc – Gasly – Russell – Tsunoda – Norris.
On lap 11 Sainz Ocon attacked before the chicane, there was contact, Carlos broke the front wing, but did not turn into the pits and kept moving. A fragment of the wing fell onto the runway but was quickly removed.
On lap 17, Sainz was cautioned with a black and white flag for an incident involving Okon.
Sargent gathered a group of racers behind him, for a long time no one attempted an attack – Magnussen was the first to overtake him in the fifth corner, followed by Stroll and Perez.
On lap 19, Albon changed tires. Hulkenberg was ahead of Zhou, followed by Sargent, who moved up to 17th.
On lap 25 Sargent pitted, on lap 32 Hamilton.
Leader Verstappen overtook a large group of riders who had gathered behind De Vries, brought up by Perez. Sergio missed a partner, overtaking the rest took time – first Alonso was able to close the gap, then Max was ahead of this group and started to pull away again.
Perez allowed contact with Magnussen, damaged the front wing.
On lap 33 Okon changed tires, on lap 34 Sainz, on lap 36 Perez got a new nose cone.
On lap 38, Strohl and Magnussen touched in a battle for position – and kept going.
On lap 45 Leclerc made a pit stop, on lap 48 Gasley, on lap 51 Norris.
It started raining.
Sainz attacked Ocon but cut the chicane and retook the position.
On lap 53 Bottas and Stroll switched to intermediate tyres, on lap 54 – Zhou and Albon, on lap 55 – Alonso, Tsunoda, de Vries, Russell, Ocon, Hamilton, Gasley. Alonso put Medium.
The track was getting slippery. On lap 55, Verstappen, Piastri and Norris switched to intermediate tyres. Alonso pitted again, this time with intermediate tyres. Leclerc and Sainz also swapped tyres.
On lap 57, after a turn, Sainz flew into the safety zone, but kept moving.
Stroll hit the barrier and retired with broken armor.
Top ten in round 58: Verstappen – Alonso – Ocon – Hamilton – Russell – Leclerc – Gasly – Sainz – Tsunoda – Piastri.
Magnussen stayed on the slicks, braked as much as he could to let the others pass, crashed into the barrier in Rascasse, but still made it to the pits, where he was given rubber for heavy rain and a new nose cone.
On lap 59, Sargent crashed into a hairpin but kept going.
Perez switched from intermediate to rain tyres.
Russell received a five-second penalty for an unsafe return to the track – he reversed out of the safety zone and Perez almost crashed into him.
On lap 59, Norris passed Piastri for tenth.
On lap 60, Magnussen crashed in the first turn safety zone, but kept moving.
On lap 61, Hulkenberg switched to wet tires and received a 10-second penalty for wrongfully serving a five-second penalty for a first-lap incident.
On lap 69 Norris was ahead of Tsunoda and on lap 70 Piastri moved up to ninth.
Tsunoda crashed into the turn 5 safety pocket but was able to continue.
Top ten in round 70: Verstappen – Alonso – Windows – Hamilton – Russell – Leclerc – Gasly – Sainz – Norris – Piastri.
On lap 70, Zhou overtook Albon for 13th.
On lap 71 I hit the barrier with no impact on the car.
On lap 73, Pérez changed tires and got intermediate tires.
On lap 76, Magnussen pitted the car and retired.
==
Max Verstappen won the Monaco Grand Prix with his second victory in the Principality, his fourth of the season and his 39th of his career. Fernando Alonso finished second, Ocon finished third. The top three finished in the same order they started.
Next week we wait for the Grand Prix of Spain in Barcelona.
Racing results
| Pilot | Team | Time | Speed | Pete |
| 1. M. Verstappen | Red Bull | 1 | ||
| 2. F. Alonso | Aston Martin | +27.921 | 2 | |
| 3. E. Okon | Alps | +36,990 | 2 | |
| 4. L Hamilton | Mercedes | +39.062 | 2 | |
| 5.D Russell | Mercedes | +56,284 | 1 | |
| 6. Sch.Lecler | Ferrari | +61,890 | 2 | |
| 7.P Gasly | Alps | +62,362 | 2 | |
| 8. K. Sainz | Ferrari | +63,391 | 2 | |
| 9. L. Norris | McLaren | +1 circle | 2 | |
| 10. O. Piastri | McLaren | +1 circle | 1 | |
| 11. V. Bottas | Alfa Romeo | +1 circle | 1 | |
| 12. N. de Vries | AlphaTauri | +1 circle | 1 | |
| 13. G. Zhou | Alfa Romeo | +1 circle | 2 | |
| 14. A. Albon | Willems | +1 circle | 2 | |
| 15. Y. Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | +2 laps | 1 | |
| 16. C. Perez | Red Bull | +2 laps | 5 | |
| 17. N. Hulkenberg | hare | +2 laps | 3 | |
| 18. L. Sargent | Willems | +2 laps | 3 | |
| K. Magnussen | hare | meeting | 2 |
best round: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) – 1:15.650 (lap 35)
Reasons for leaving
| Pilot | Team | circles | Cause |
| L. Stroll | Aston Martin | 56 | accident |
Championship position : Individual
Championship Position: Constructors’ Championship
| Team | Engine | Glasses | |
| = | 1 Oracle Red Bull Racing | Honda RBPT | 249 |
| = | 2. Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team | Mercedes | 120 |
| = | 3. Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team | Mercedes | 119 |
| = | 4 Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari | 90 |
 |
5. BWT Alpine F1 Team | Renault | 35 |
 |
6 McLaren F1 team | Mercedes | 17 |
| = | 7. MoneyGram Haas F1 Team | Ferrari | 8 |
| = | 8. Alfa Romeo F1 team commitment | Ferrari | 6 |
| = | 9 Scuderia AlphaTauri | Honda RBPT | 2 |
| = | 10Williams Racing | Mercedes | 1 |
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
