Breaking the Monaco Curse: Leclerc Breaks Through
Image: Formula One
The Monaco Grand Prix is always a special occasion - being the shortest circuit on the calendar in terms of length, the only one to be given an exception to the minimum lap distance requirement set in place by the FIA, and the most glamorous and multi-millionaire-ridden paddock of them all. Every Monaco Grand Prix weekend is like this, however this one carries a bit more weight as we saw home hero Charles Leclerc finally bring an end to the curse and win his home race on the streets he grew up on.
Qualifying
As is the tradition around the Monte Carlo circuit, Saturday is crucial for securing a strong result for Sunday’s GP, as the nature of the street circuit boasts very few overtaking opportunities due to its narrow, winding bends and only one relatively short DRS zone.
Ferrari man Leclerc had already put himself up there as a favourite to take pole position after some solid laps in Practice on Friday; he finished Q1 in P5, just behind teammate Sainz. Both VCARB cars set competitive times, initially placing in the top 10, but ultimately ending Q1 in 11th and 13th, with previous Monaco winner Daniel Ricciardo the leading driver. Aston Martin experienced a mixed bag of a session, with two-time world champion Alonso unusually off the pace and eventually being knocked out whilst his teammate Lance Stroll placed P9, ahead of Lando Norris. Red Bull’s Sergio Perez has his first Q1 exit of the season, exasperating: “What a joke.”
Out in Q1 were:
16 - Fernando ALONSO
17 - Logan SARGEANT
18 - Sergio PEREZ
19 - Valtteri BOTTAS
20 - ZHOU Guanyu
Q2 gave us a surprise or two as Pierre Gasly set the fifth fastest lap, besting his teammate who finished just shy of the top 10. Norris topped the timing board, followed very closely (+0.013s) by reigning champ Max Verstappen, then Piastri and Leclerc.
Despite their strong start in Q1, Haas failed to maintain their pace and saw both cars eliminated. Hulkenberg finished 12th, while Magnussen ended up in 15th. Ricciardo’s RB and Stroll’s Aston Martin were the other cars that didn’t progress any further during the session.
Image: @AstonMartinF1 on Twitter/X
Knocked out of Q2 were:
11 - Esteban OCON
12 - Nico HULKENBERG
13 - Daniel RICCIARDO
14 - Lance STROLL
15 - Kevin MAGNUSSEN
The final Qualifying session on Saturday was one that lit up the faces of local fans as their boy took centre stage. Leclerc secured pole position with a blistering lap time of 1:10.270 - a whole 1.095s faster than Verstappen’s jaw-dropping pole lap at last year’s Monaco Grand Prix.
Piastri followed in second place, while Verstappen struggled and finished sixth. Hamilton dropped to seventh, and Gasly, Tsunoda, and Albon battled at the front of the midfield.
Most intriguing is that this year’s Monaco GP marked the only one in history so far to see the top 10 drivers finish in the exact same positions that they qualified and started in - whatever that says about either the track itself, this current generation of cars or both, we’ll leave that to you to make a judgement!
F1’s Monegasque achieves his dream victory
Image: @ScuderiaFerrari on Twitter/X
After a run of sour luck in previous runnings of the Monaco Grand Prix, including brake failure, crashing in Qualifying, strategy blunders and a gearbox failure, Ferrari’s ‘Il Predestinato’ finally was able to break his curse on Sunday to win in the Principality that he calls home.
In a lights-to-flag victory, Leclerc held off the McLaren of Piastri that was bearing down on him for most of the race whilst playing the tyre management game as all the drivers were. Following the lap 1 red flag and subsequent clean-up, Charles and four other drivers in the top 10 benefited greatly by fitting a new free set of hard C3 compound tyres. These lasted a whopping 76 laps, which is especially impressive considering the high degradation and constant demand put on the tyres around the circuit, even more so when you take into account the fact that Leclerc was defending for quite some time on the worn rubber too.
In the final laps, Leclerc admitted post-race that he became overwhelmed by emotion, citing his late father who passed away in 2017 and his godfather Jules Bianchi, who was tragically lost during the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix.
Charles Leclerc on finally winning his home Grand Prix
I could feel the emotion growing in me … I was thinking a lot about my father, about everything he did to ensure that I was here today and I was also thinking of Jules. Winning this race was a dream we all had and I dedicate the win to them.
Team Principal Fred Vasseur had nothing but praise for Leclerc following his long-awaited victory:
“It was the perfect weekend and one to remember for Charles, having had a couple of tough races in the past here in Monaco. He was flying from lap 1 in FP1 and he did the perfect job. The race itself was a bit strange because after the red flag, we had to manage 77 laps on the same set of tyres.”
It has to be noted that Max Verstappen wasn’t really present at any point of the weekend, not topping any particular session and qualifying a comparatively meagre P6. The Dutchman still retains his championship lead, though Leclerc has now closed the gap to 31 points and aided the scarlet outfit to now be within 24 points in the constructors’ standings as well.
Heroics after Sainte-Dévote
Aside from Charles’ heartwarming win, the other most memorable moment of the weekend has to be the dramatic and costly pile-up on the first lap of the race.
To summarise, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was heading up Turn 2 at Beau Rivage after starting in a miserable P18, with both Haas drivers starting on the back row due to a rear wing infringement during Qualifying. The Mexican driver found himself side-by-side with Kevin Magnussen at the exit of Turn 1, however the Haas found better traction and attempted to stick a nose in on the right hand side of Perez’s RB20.
As Checo continued on the straight and narrow up the hill (as is the racing line), the Dane kept his nose in and, as the right-hand side barrier came closer to him, ended up swiping Perez’s rear-right tyre and spinning him around. A huge whack into the left-hand side barrier for the Red Bull driver ensued and, as he attempted to avoid the incident, Nico Hulkenberg became the second unlucky victim.
Image: Formula One
This of course generated not only three DNFs, but also quite the repair bill for Red Bull in particular - Senior Advisor and Head of Driver Development Helmut Marko stated that the cost of the damages and subsequent complete rebuild of car no. 11 is “two to three million”. Whether that’s pounds, euros or dollars, that’s a pretty hefty sum for an incident that most consider to not have been Perez’s fault!
As you can see, the outcome was quite dire, particularly for Perez’s RB20:
There’s more where that came from
That wasn’t all the chaos of lap 1 - Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz experienced a puncture after a brush with Oscar Piastri at Turn 1. The Australian’s McLaren experienced aero (floor) damage as a result, albeit not race-ending, and Sainz came off worse from the situation, understeering into the runoff area at the entry to Casino corner.
Thankfully for the Spaniard, the red flag caused by the Perez-Magnussen-Hulkenberg crash meant that, as per the current rules, he was allowed a fresh set of tyres and his P3 reinstated for the restart. He went on to cross the line in that same position, giving the Scuderia their second double podium finish of the season so far.
Alpine had yet another mini-civil war crop up this weekend, with Esteban Ocon making a far too optimistic lunge up the inside of teammate Gasly at Portier just before the entrance to the Tunnel. The two came together, which ended up tossing the number 31 car of Ocon up into the air a considerable distance, à la Hamilton and Alonso at Spa in 2022, and ending his race.
Some humorous posts on social media have come out of this fiasco, including a personal favourite of ours below:
Image: @CarlosEnci_F1 on Twitter/X
On a more serious note, Alpine Vice President Bruno Famin gave his verdict thereafter, implying that action would be taken swiftly and significantly:
Bruno Famin on the Ocon-Gasly incident
It's sad, this kind of incident. It's exactly what we didn't want to see … there will be the appropriate consequences.
There’s then the potential to see Jack Doohan, the Enstone team’s reserve driver, take Ocon’s place for the next round at Montréal, Canada. At the time of writing, this has been neither confirmed nor denied by any sources.
Away from the drama…
In the midst of the main debacles, there were some really subtle but strong performances elsewhere on the grid that went somewhat unnoticed - let’s bring some light to those now!
Image: @WilliamsRacing on Twitter/X
Williams’ Alexander Albon qualified an impressive ninth and, as did the rest of the top ten, he finished the race in the same position. The Thai driver drove a solid race and handled the unusually long stint on one set of tyres well, ending the Grove team’s dry run to bring two points home.
Yuki Tsunoda, arguably the grid’s dark horse at the moment, drove a confident and commanding race to finish P8 in middling machinery, which maintains the Japanese driver’s place on the upper half of the driver’s standings. Although a Red Bull drive currently looks unlikely for Tsunoda (especially given the news that the team are apparently close to confirming a contract extension with Sergio Perez), the 24-year old is no doubt making a strong case for himself, potentially to move to the ambitious Aston Martin with their upcoming partnership with Honda, who will almost certainly be wanting a Japanese driver to represent them.
Image: @visacashapprb on Twitter/X
Kick Sauber had yet another bleak outing, qualifying on the back row and, despite the drama elsewhere, came home 13th and 16th. Bottas and Zhou are two of the only three drivers this season so far to have not scored a single point - the green and black-clad team will have to really knuckle down if they want this to change.
The moving feast that is Formula One is rolling into Canada in two weeks’ time - the site of Lewis Hamilton’s first of 103 P1 finishes, Robert Kubica’s horrific accident and following heroic return to claim victory, not braking for animals and the longest F1 race ever.
Whatever happens and however it happens, we’ll be giving you the very best coverage here on Race Reaction.
Final race classification
1 - Charles LECLERC
2 - Oscar PIASTRI
3 - Carlos SAINZ
4 - Lando NORRIS
5 - George RUSSELL
6 - Max VERSTAPPEN
7 - Lewis HAMILTON
8 - Yuki TSUNODA
9 - Alexander ALBON
10 - Pierre GASLY
11 - Fernando ALONSO
12 - Daniel RICCIARDO
13 - Valtteri BOTTAS
14 - Lance STROLL
15 - Logan SARGEANT
16 - ZHOU Guanyu
DNF - Esteban OCON
DNF - Sergio PEREZ
DNF - Kevin MAGNUSSEN
DNF - Nico HULKENBERG
