With battle lines drawn, Verstappen and Red Bull emerge as leaders. But there’s more to the story of Monaco 2021.
Max Verstappen took the Formula One Driver Championship lead for the first time by winning the Monaco Grand Prix. He did so by taking advantage of a dismal weekend for Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes.
]But perhaps the most significant moment happened before the race had even begun. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc crashed at the swimming pool chicane bringing out the red flag and an early end to the qualifying session. Leclerc held the provisional pole position time and the red flag that meant no other driver could complete their final qualifying attempt.
The only concern for the home favourite was how much damage had been caused to the car. Any damage to the gearbox that required it to be changed would mean at least a five-place grid penalty. After checking, Ferrari gave the car the all-clear to line up on pole position.
That was not the end of the story, though. There was significant damage and, with no time to fix the car, Leclerc was out of the race. Verstappen inherited the pole position with rival Hamilton in 6th place on the grid. By all odds, it was now Verstappen’s race to lose.
Would Mercedes contend? Verstappen kept the lead at the start of the race ahead of Mercedes’s Valtteri Bottas in 2nd place as the majority of the field maintained the position from which they started the race up to the pit stop phase. Hamilton pitted early in an attempt to jump ahead of Pierre Gasly. However, with the hard compound tyre struggling to gain initial temperature, pitting turned out to be a bad decision. Hamilton not only failed to pass Gasly but, by staying out longer on soft tyres being the better strategy, he was also passed in the pit stop phase by Sebastian Vettel and Sergio Perez, leaving him in 7th place.
If Hamilton thought he had suffered from a poor pit stop, it was nothing compared to the fate that teammate Bottas was about to suffer. That’s when the tyres completely came off for Mercedes. Or, to put it more correctly, the tyre wouldn’t come off.
In a bizarre incident that has never been seen before, the Mercedes pit crew failed to remove the right front tyre from Bottas’ car. The exact cause of what happened remains unknown, but the result for Bottas was clear: he was out of the race.
With Leclerc and Bottas out of the race and Hamilton struggling, Verstappen went on to take his first Monaco Grand Prix victory. He was joined on the podium by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and the ever-impressive Lando Norris. Lewis Hamilton ended pretty much where he started–down the grid–in 7th place.
In winning, Verstappen took the lead in the driver’s championship, and Red Bull did the same on the constructor’s side. But both did so without spectacle. Put another way, Monaco turned out to be a dull race.
After the start and lap 1, there were no on-track overtakes at all. Any changes of position came in the pit lane. And there is a good reason why. The modern Formula One has produced bigger and wider cars that make it almost impossible to overtake competitors on Monte Carlo’s narrow streets.
That said, the prestige of the Monaco event and the special feeling it generates amongst drivers and fans alike still makes it a must-have event on the Formula One calendar. After the day’s action ends, the pit straight becomes a dance floor to party, reveling fans, and locals. And just hours after watching the fastest cars in the world race around the streets, those byways become public roads again.
Winning in Monaco will always mean more to a driver, and it is where all the greats of the past made their name. However, in perhaps the most ironic situations in the sporting world, the iconic Monaco GP needs fixing.
How so? Retain the prestige and tradition of Monaco while, at the same time, elevate the quality of racing to the level that makes Formula One the spectacular sport it is–save for one weekend a year.
