Max Verstappen celebrates his first Grand Prix victory in Monaco. (Red Bull Racing photo)
Not even the rain towards the end of the race could stop Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen’s attempt at his maiden Monaco Grand Prix triumph.
Verstappen started from pole position and quickly increased his gap to second-placed Fernando Alonso early on, with Verstappen running on the medium compound tire rather than Alonso’s hard tires early on.
Verstappen avoided major problems when it started to rain. After hitting the wall, Verstappen immediately pitted to swap his medium tires for intermediate tyres.
Racing at the 2.074-mile Circuit de Monaco circuit, second-placed Alonso pitted early as only part of the circuit was wet, forcing the Aston Martin driver to make an extra stop on intermediate tyres.
Despite an extra stop, Alonso had enough margin to retain second place, the team’s best result this season.
The last spot on the podium went to Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, who took advantage of the delicate pit cycle.
Despite initial difficulties, Mercedes’ new W14 race car showed great promise after seven-time F-1 champion Lewis Hamilton finished fourth, followed by his team-mate George Russell in fifth.
Charles Leclerc drove his Ferrari to sixth place, exactly where he had started after a three-place penalty in qualifying. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz followed in seventh and eighth respectively.
It was a double points haul for McLaren after Lando Norris and rookie Oscar Piastri finished ninth and tenth respectively.
Haas F-1 put on a dismal performance in Monaco. Nico Hulkenberg finished 17th, two laps down, while his teammate Kevin Magnussen finished the day in 19th after slipping behind the wall.
Comments are closed.