Charles Leclerc ended the Monaco Grand Prix curse on Sunday, managing the race to perfection to convert pole position into victory at his home event. Oscar Piastri finished in second, while Carlos Sainz held off Lando Norris to clinch the final spot on the podium.
There was drama from the offset on the streets of Monte Carlo. Carlos Sainz made contact with Piastri, giving him a puncture and sending him into the run-off area. Further back, Sergio Perez’s Red Bull was obliterated following contact with Kevin Magnussen at Beau Rivage, while Nico Hulkenberg was collected in the ensuing wreck.
Further up the track, the two Alpine cars came together when Esteban Ocon launched a move up the inside of Pierre Gasly at Portier. The driver of the No.31 car was sent airborne and during the red flag period, the Enstone-based outfit were unable to repair the ensuing damage.
That crash will have disastrous consequences for Ocon’s next race. The 27-year-old picked up a five-place grid penalty for his troubles, while team principal Bruno Famin was furious in an interview with Canal+, insisting that there would be serious consequences for the crash.
The red flag left some drivers in a difficult situation. Leclerc, Piastri and Sainz were able to strap on new hard compound tyres and fulfil their mandatory allocation, but the likes of George Russell, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton were forced to move onto medium tyres.
As the race played out, some drivers gambled on alternative strategies. Valtteri Bottas and Lance Stroll both came in for pit stops to give themselves a tyre offset to the cars ahead, but as is typically the case in Monaco, they were unable to make up any ground in terms of track position.
The race finally spiced up with just over 25 laps to go when Hamilton and Verstappen made their stops. Those strategy calls placed Russell in danger, and the Mercedes driver was forced to defend from the reigning champion on aged medium tyres.
However, despite closing on Russell at a rate of knots, Verstappen was unable to make inroads, and there was also no change further forward as Leclerc managed the gap to perfection, moving nearly 10 seconds clear of second-placed Piastri en route to a dominant race win.
