Max Verstappen has taken victory and the lead of the world championship after a dominant smooth drive to win the Monaco Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver took the lead of the race at then didn’t look back, after pole-sitter Charles Leclerc failed to start the race because of damage following his crash in qualifying.
Verstappen soon build his lead steadily building his lead following the pit stop where he came out in front. His win allowed him to take a four-point lead over Sir Lewis Hamilton in a race that didn’t feature any safety cars or yellow flags with it being won on strategy.
Verstappen’s former teammate Carlos Sainz was second fastest eight seconds behind and comfortably ahead of another former teammate Lando Norris who continues his strong start to the season. The Dutchman’s win marks the first time Red Bull has led the drivers and constructors championship in the turbo-hybrid era.
Max Verstappen said, “It’s so special around here to win. It’s my first time on the podium here. Amazing race. It’s a lot of laps – you really have to keep your focus, but it’s really cool. I’m very proud, but I’m also thinking ahead – it is a very long season.”
Carlos Sainz, “It’s a good result. If you would’ve told me before coming to Monaco I would finish second, I definitely would take it. I think Ferrari need to be proud about the car and the step we’ve made. I felt good with the car today and I felt the team deserved a podium.”
It was an agonising start for Leclerc, Ferrari said before the race that they did not need to change the gearbox, which meant he left the pits expecting to take up his place at the front of the grid for his home race. But halfway around his reconnaissance lap, Leclerc came on the radio to say he was having gearbox problems.
Leclerc, who crashed heavily at the end of qualifying, was due to start on pole but reported an issue on his first laps out of the pits before the race, and Ferrari couldn’t fix the diagnosed driveshaft problem before the start of the race.
That then gave Verstappen effectively a clear run into the first corner, controlling the race from the front without any real drama from yellow flags or the safety car. The Dutchman built a seconds lead by the end of the opening lap, which he increased lap by lap, never really losing the lead.
Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez was fourth twenty seconds behind as the Mercedes race started to unravel on lap thirty-four when Valtteri Bottas made his stop. While Perez may have not been where Red Bull would have liked him, it was still a decent drive from eighth on the grid to finish fourth allowing the team to maximise the race.
It appeared during the tyre change that instead of undoing the front wheel nut the old tyre became welded onto the axle making them unable to remove the tyre bringing his race to an end.
Bottas’s retirement moved Norris up into third and despite driving a lonely race once again, had to fend off the Mexican during the closing stages, as Mercedes strategy dropped Hamilton out of contention.
The McLaren drivers third place moving him into third in the driver’s championship, the big winner in the dramas with Leclerc and Bottas, behind Verstappen and Hamilton.
Mercedes race unravelling in two laps, Hamilton failing to undercut Gasly at his pit stop and then the cross-threaded wheel nut on Bottas’s car. The team explain, “the wheel nut machined onto the axle as we attempted the pit stop, meaning the wheel could not be changed.”
Mercedes grip on F1 appears to have a serious challenge this year and they will be hoping that those issues don’t appear again, but they have happened before. Going backwards was something the team would not have wanted, but the question is how will they respond in Baku, another street circuit but one which is very different to Monaco.
Sebastian Vettel had his best race for Aston Martin finishing ahead of the Alpha Tauri of Pierre Gasly, the four time champion overcut the Frenchman and Hamilton to gain fifth. Hamilton appearing frustrated with the decisions which saw him rejoin behind Gasly.
Perez also used the same strategy to find strong pace on his way to fourth, as staying out longer proved to be the way to get track position which is important in Monaco.
Esteban Ocon struggled with tyre life during the closing stages of the race, but the Alpine driver managed to fend of a late attack from Antonio Giovinazzi. The Frenchman finishing behind Lance Stroll, the Canadian ran long into the race after starting twelfth, getting to eighth when he made his pit stop with twenty laps to go.
Stroll was investigated for potentially crossing the pit exit line as he rejoined after his stop, but the stewards took no action and he came home untroubled in eighth. Kimi Raikkonen was eleventh ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and Fernando Alonso. George Russell beating his teammate Nicolas Latifi.
Yuki Tsunoda finished sixteenth ahead of the two Haas’s, with Nikita Mazepin a second ahead of Mick Schumacher.
Related
- Monaco GP – Qualifying Results
- MONACO GP – Charles Leclerc Takes Pole Before Crashing Out Of Qualifying
- F1 Today – Monaco Prixview – 21/05/2021
- Notebook – Monaco Practice
- MONACO GP – Charles Leclerc Leads Ferrari One-Two In Second Practice Ahead Of Mercedes And Red Bull
- MONACO GP – Sergio Perez fastest by a tenth in FP1 ahead of Carlos Sainz
- F1 Today – Monaco Prixview – 19/05/2021
- PRIXVIEW – Monaco Grand Prix
