Verstappen wins an overtake-free Monaco Grand Prix after Leclerc fails to start

Max Verstappen has taken his first victory in Monte Carlo after pole-sitter Charles Leclerc discovered a gearbox issue, as a result of his crash yesterday, on the way to the grid. Carlos Sainz secured his first podium for Ferrari after finishing 2nd and Lando Norris came 3rd for McLaren.

Key Points from the Race

Charles Leclerc never starts

Following Leclerc’s crash at the end of qualifying, many Ferrari fans were held their breath as they awaited news from the team regarding whether the gearbox on his car would have to be replaced. This morning, Ferrari announced there was no damage to Leclerc’s car and that he would be starting from pole. That was the case until Leclerc left the garage for his instillation lap where he quickly realised all was not well. To make matters worse, it became evident that the Monagas would not even be able to start the race from the pitlane due to the nature of the damage.

Leclerc suffered gearbox damage after yesterdays crash

Mercedes Pitstop Woes

It is safe to say that Mercedes had a tragic weekend in Monaco, not helped by the return of their pitstop troubles. Firstly, the team decided to bring Hamilton in before Gasly (who was ahead of him) to attempt to undercut him. This failed as Gasly remained ahead and to rub salt in the wound, Perez and Vettel also got ahead of him in the following laps after successfully overcutting the 7-time world champion. Lewis never recovered from this and brought his car home in P7, his worst result of the season.

That wasn’t the end of the pitstop troubles, as when Valtteri Bottas came in for his stop, the front right tyre got stuck and would not come off due to a broken wheel nut. Consequently the Finn had to retire from the race.

Max Verstappen leads the championship

Max Verstappen delivered nothing short of a dominant performance around Monte Carlo as he pretty much led every lap from start to finish. His incredible win along with Hamilton’s disappointing 7th place sees the Dutchman lead an F1 world championship for the first time in his career.

No Overtakes

The Monte Carlo circuit is notoriously difficult to overtake at but a total of 0 overtakes (ignoring blue flag passes) is still an impressive feat.

Final Result
PosDriverCarLAPSTimePoints
1Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing781:38:56.82025
2Carlos SainzFerrari78+8.968s18
3Lando NorrisMcLaren Mercedes78+19.427s15
4Sergio PerezRed Bull Racing78+20.490s12
5Sebastian VettelAston Martin78+52.591s10
6Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri Honda78+53.896s8
7Lewis HamiltonMercedes78+68.231s7
8Lance StrollAston Martin77+1 lap4
9Esteban OconAlpine Renault77+1 lap2
10Antonio GiovinazziAlfa Romeo Racing77+1 lap1
11Kimi RäikkönenAlfa Romeo Racing77+1 lap0
12Daniel RicciardoMcLaren Mercedes77+1 lap0
13Fernando AlonsoAlpine Renault77+1 lap0
14George RussellWilliams Mercedes77+1 lap0
15Nicholas LatifiWilliams Mercedes77+1 lap0
16Yuki TsunodaAlphaTauri Honda77+1 lap0
17Nikita MazepinHaas Ferrari75+3 laps0
18Mick SchumacherHaas Ferrari75+3 laps0
NCValtteri BottasMercedes29DNF0
NCCharles LeclercFerrari0DNS0

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