Despite a good showing in practices and qualifying, Charles Leclerc placed fourth in his home city race. Teammate Carlos Sainz, Jr. finished second, while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen clocked in third.
MONTE CARLO, Monaco- By winning Sunday’s Monaco GP, Sergio Perez became the all-time leader in race wins for his home country of Mexico. To do it, Perez had to deal with rain delays, two red flag events, and a challenge from Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. Max Verstappen finished third to extend his championship lead over fourth-place Charles Leclerc by nine points.
Sergio Perez: It’s a dream come true! We made it a bit harder for ourselves right at the end, but keeping Carlos [Sainz] behind was amazing. It’s a massive day for myself and my country. I was wearing a Pedro Rodriguez helmet (referring to the now-deceased Mexican GP driver who raced between 1963-71), and I am sure he would be super proud of what we have achieved in the sport.
Despite the heavy rains, Perez took advantage of a Ferrari mistake as Leclerc held the lead even though the race had been delayed. The delay was followed by a formation lap behind the safety car. Then, both Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and his Canadian countryman Nicholas Latifi (Williams), slid off the circuit before officials stopped the race for over an hour.
The race then continued as the skies cleared and the drivers once again were behind the safety car. Leclerc began to pull away as the street circuit began to dry. After leading his teammate Sainz Jr. by five seconds, the Monegasque took his first pit stop on lap 19. Perez had already come in two laps earlier to change his tire from wets to intermediates.
But Ferrari’s biggest mistake was bringing in Sainz Jr. on lap 22 and wavering about how to manage Leclerc’s tires.
Because of the rain delay, the end of the race came down to the clock. Only a few minutes remained as Perez found himself in the lead largely because of a successful undercut earlier in the race and increasing top lap times as the race went on. But things remained close until the end with Sainz Jr., Verstappen, and Leclerc following close behind. But with passing on this circuit nearly impossible, Perez held off his Spanish rival to take his first win in over a year.
While the battle for the lead was going on, others behind were also close to each other. Mercedes George Russell and his British countryman, Lando Norris, chased after the leading pack but could only manage fifth and sixth, respectively. As consolation. Norris took the fastest lap of the race. Fernando Alonso saved his tires in his Alpine, a strategy that led to finishing seventh.
Lewis Hamilton’s season continued in frustrating style as the Mercedes driver came in eighth–a spot that had been occupied by Esteban Ocon until the Alpine driver was penalized for cutting across Hamilton earlier in the race. Ocon ended up 13th after he was hit with a five-second infraction.
Mick Schumacher, who had crashed and broke his Haas entry in half earlier this season, had the identical accident on Sunday. As he maneuvered on lap 27, Schumacher miscalculated the chicane at the Piscine and struck the wall. Thankfully, the German driver escaped unhurt. But that incident brought out the virtual safety car, followed by a regular safety car, and finally a red flag. All of that gave marshals time to clear up debris and fix the barrier that Schumacher had hit.
The American Haas team had a horrible day not only because Schumacher retired from the race, but because Kevin Magnussen suffered the same fate with a water-cooling issue. Williams’s Alex Albon also retired with 15 minutes to go.
Following races two weekends in a row–in Spain and now in Monaco–Formula One will take a two-week rest before the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which will ovbe held on the weekend of June 10. It’s off to North America again after that, this time for the Canadian GP.
