It was a glorious weekend for home-standing Charles Leclerc. He emerged on top in free practices, qualifying, and (most importantly) in Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix.
MONTE CARLO, Monaco—The curse of Charles Leclerc has finally ended. The home hero led Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix from start to finish and won his first Monaco Grand Prix despite a 45-minute delay from a red flag and a threat from McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who finished second. Carlos Sainz completed a 1-3 Ferrari finish.
Lando Norris gave McLaren a double points finish by taking fourth, never being able to pass Sainz despite always being so close to doing so. The result was the same for the next two finishers, Mercedes George Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, while Mercedes’ other driver, Lewis Hamilton, had a quiet day and finished seventh. The RB of Yuki Tsunoda once again earned points by finishing eighth, while two other drivers–Williams’s Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly–finished ninth and tenth to gain their first points of the year.
Leclerc was emotional after crossing the finish line at a place where he watched the race as a child growing up. He could not believe what had happened, having been on the pole before but failing to win the race. He dedicated his win to his father, who died before Leclerc reached Formula One.
Charles Leclerc: It means a lot. This race made me dream of becoming an F1 driver. It was a difficult race emotionally. Already 15 laps from the end, I was hoping nothing happened. I must admit that I thought about my dad even more than the driving. He gave everything for me to be here.
The top four finishers never stopped to pit during the entire race, and most stayed the same in the top ten all day. Only a few drivers could pass other cars, and those at the back of the grid accomplished that. But considering this tedious type of racing, it was not like that initially.
Near the back of the grid, Haas F1’s Kevin Magnussen tried to get past the right side of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez at St. Devote and collided, which sent both cars into the barriers at Massanet, and collected Magnussen’s teammate Nico Hulkenberg in the process. Perez’s car took the worst of it; only the shell was left.
Further up the road at Portier, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon struck his teammate, Pierre Gasly, and went airborne, flying into the barriers. The collision resulted in a five-grid penalty for Ocon, which will be applied in the next race. His driving resulted in media criticism and also drew the ire of Bruno Famin, Alpine’s Team Manager, who said, “There will be consequences from this.”
With the win, Verstappen’s advantage over Leclerc in the driver’s championship is 31 points, while Red Bull’s lead over Ferrari in the team championship stands at 24 points. Eight races are in the books for the season, with 16 races left on the 24-race schedule.
After a short rest, the next race will be on the fast circuit of Montreal, Canada, in two weeks.
