Home hero Charles Leclerc wins the Monaco Grand Prix, making him the first Monégasque driver to win his home race. The Ferrari driver had struggled to convert his last 12 pole positions into race wins, but after years of misfortune at Monaco, Leclerc finally secured his well-deserved victory. This marks his first win since Austria 2022.
Chaotic Race Start
Both Mercedes, both Red Bulls, and both Aston Martins, along with Gasly and Sargeant, started on hard tyres. Early drama unfolded on lap 1.
Leclerc had a good start, but Carlos Sainz had minor contact with Oscar Piastri at the exit of Sainte Devote, causing a puncture and forcing him off at Casino Square. The race was yellow-flagged, but no further investigation was deemed necessary by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA).
An incident between Sergio Perez,Kevin Magnussen, and Nico Hulkenberg occurred when Magnussen attempted to move up the inside at Beau Rivage, hitting the barrier and colliding with Perez, who then hit Hulkenberg. Perez's Red Bull was severely damaged, and both Haas cars were out of the race, resulting in a double DNF for Haas.
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Magnussen commented, "I had a good part of my front on Perez's rear, and when he went to the wall, I just got pushed into the wall." Hulkenberg added, "Turn 1, Turn 2 - finished. Kicked in the rear axle by Checo, who had contact with Kevin."
Perez shared his frustration, saying, "On my onboard, there is no point where you see Kevin and I was just pretty surprised that he kept it flat at that point because it was just very unnecessary. We had a lot of damage; we had a very dangerous incident. Also [I'm] very disappointed that it didn't get investigated, because it was a massive incident, my car is completely destroyed and I have a lot of damage."
Alpine Drama
Alpine had its share of drama during the race start as well. Esteban Ocon tried to attack Pierre Gasly into Portier, but there wasn't enough room, and the two made contact, sending Ocon airborne. Gasly was furious over the radio, saying, "What did he do? What did he do? Why did he try to attack me? Oh my gosh!" Ocon received a five-place grid penalty for the Canadian Grand Prix.
Ocon commented on the incident, "I'm okay. It was a hard launch in the air and a hard landing, but I've had worse days on that side of things. Obviously, it's an unfortunate incident to retire early in the race after a long race that was going to go late on. A tough one. We tried to basically put the car back in the garage, so we pulled out of the fast lane to try and repair what we could repair, but unfortunately, we discovered too much damage sustained. A chaotic first lap, and I hope that the team can score some points today."
Ocon also proceeded to apologise for what happened on his socials.
Standing Restart
The race saw a standing restart with the original grid positions. Drivers out were Ocon, Perez, Hulkenberg, and Magnussen. Leclerc exited the pit lane to rejoin the grid, with hard runners switching to mediums and medium starters switching to hards. Sargeant stayed on his original hard tyres.
George Russell tried to pass Lando Norris but was advised to manage his tyres and hold his position. Playing the team game, Sainz ensured Leclerc managed his pace to maintain a safe gap.
Sainz over the radio: "Charles is managing, I guess? Because that was close with Piastri," adding, "One lap he might send it."
Leclerc eventually extended his lead by a fair bit.
Mid-Race Action
Valtteri Bottas set the fastest lap after pitting while strategy discussions continued between drivers and their engineers.
Leclerc's race engineer instructed him to 'drive even slower' to prevent McLaren from gaining a pit stop window. Leclerc expressed concern about understeering due to the slow pace.
The top four drivers on hard tyres established a considerable lead, with Russell on mediums trailing Norris by 16 seconds. Yuki Tsunoda had a solitary race in P8, falling a lap behind Lewis Hamilton as he followed his race engineer's instructions to manage his tyres.
Stroll suffered a left rear puncture but returned to the pits, dropping from P11 to P16. Bottas executed the first overtake of the race on Logan Sargeant at Mirabeau. Hamilton and Verstappen pitted for hard tyres, setting the fastest laps in turn.
Stroll made a series of overtakes, moving up to P14. Russell defended well against Verstappen, who was on fresher tyres. Piastri struggled with tyre degradation, while Leclerc was a full second quicker per lap.
Race Conclusion
Leclerc, managing his pace, maintained a significant lead and earned Driver of the Day. Tsunoda increased the gap to Albon to 12 seconds. Sargeant capitalised on Zhou being lapped to move up to P15. Albon and Gasly scored their first points of the season.
In post-race interviews, Leclerc said, "No words can explain this. I think because twice I started from pole and couldn't make it, it means more in a way. It was a race that made me dream of becoming a Formula 1 driver. In the last 15 laps, the emotions were coming - I was thinking of my Dad, he gave everything to get me here. It was a dream of his for me to race here and to win, so this is unbelievable."
Piastri, finishing P2, remarked, "Tricky race, the pace at the beginning was incredibly slow. I had one little half look into the tunnel but I didn't have a small enough car to pit in the gap. Nice to out a result on the board, we've been strong the last few races but not got the results. What a place [to get a podium]. To be honest, Charles has been mega all weekend, it would have taken something very special in quali to out-do him, probably the best lap of my life."
Sainz, finishing P3, shared, "It was a tight one and a very bad feeling there in Lap 1 that turned into a very good feeling getting reinstated into P3. But I'm extremely happy to see Charles win his home Grand Prix and getting to share it with him. Maybe I had a chance to put pressure on Oscar to get him to do a mistake, we got him under pressure but it was not enough to pass.”
Final results
Stay tuned for the Canadian Grand Prix, where the drivers will continue their battle for the championship.
