Five talking points from a monumental Monaco GP

Leclerc’s home heartbreak

From a convincing pole position on Saturday, Leclerc had every reason to be hopeful his home-race hoodoo would finally end on Sunday. But the first rainfall of the weekend as the field prepared for the start led the race director to trigger a delay, Leclerc eventually heading everyone away behind a safety car – only for the rain to intensify and force the officials to throw a red flag before they could be let loose to race. The action only got going after 4pm local time.

Even now on full wet-weather Pirellis, Leclerc looked comfortable in the lead, but it soon became clear as conditions improved that the result would swing on the timing of who would switch tyres at exactly the right moment. As early as lap two Pierre Gasly was one of a few drivers to switch to intermediates, but the leaders bided their time, waiting for it to become obvious the change would lead to a clear pace advantage. By lap 14, Perez, running third behind the two Ferraris, knew ‘inters’ were the better option, but then Carlos Sainz Jr radioed in. He’d correctly spotted it would be better to wait, bypass the inters as the track dried and go straight to slicks. Perez stopped first on lap 16, with Leclerc and Verstappen coming in two laps later for intermediates as Sainz stuck it out. The Spaniard finally came in from the lead on lap 21 to switch straight to hard Pirellis – and disastrously Leclerc followed him in, the team making the call then changing its mind too late. He was delayed slightly by the double-stack and when both Red Bulls headed in the following lap for their own slicks the final order was decided. Perez had jumped Sainz to lead, Vertappen had jumped Leclerc for third – and Charles found himself shuffled from first to fourth in a matter of a few laps.

A week after Ferrari unreliability cost Leclerc a sure win in Barcelona, a ham-fisted strategy call kept up Charles’s miserable record in his own backyard. Painful times.

Perez becomes a deserving Monaco winner

He was made to feel second-best by Red Bull in Spain, but Perez hit back in fine style on the streets of Monaco. All weekend he appeared to have the upper hand on a strangely subdued Verstappen, outqualifying the world championship points leader to line up third. How he turned that grid slot into a win was down to a combination of typical Red Bull strategy nous and a cool head under pressure, as his team put him under what seemed unnecessary pressure for the last act of this race.

Mick Schumacher’s big accident at the swimming pool, which split the rear of his Haas clean from the chassis, triggered the second red flag of the day on lap 30, ensuring the Monaco GP wouldn’t run to its full 77-lap distance and would instead count down to the maximum two-hour mark. During the pause Red Bull chose fresh medium tyres for both of its drivers, as did the Mercedes and Alpine racers – but Perez and Verstappen had much more to lose. The pair would have been better served by Pirelli’s more durable hard tyres, and sure enough in the closing minutes the leader was struggling to keep Sainz’s Ferrari from making a move for victory. But as usual at Monaco, ‘Checo’ was saved by how near-impossible it is to pass on the grand old street circuit in dry conditions. “We made it harder for ourselves at the end,” Perez admitted. Still, he made it home for his third win, which moves him clear of Pedro Rodríguez as Mexico’s most successful F1 driver.

A potentially unsavoury postscript was Ferrari’s protest on Sunday night against both Red Bulls for crossing the pit exit line on the run up the hill after their stops. Verstappen’s suggested transgression was caught on camera as his left-front tyre appeared to ride the yellow line. But the stewards threw out the protest against both cars on the basis neither actually crossed that line – a crucial clarification.

Sainz rues backmarker delay

He ended qualifying spun sideways into Perez at Portier after Checo lost his Red Bull ahead of him. The following day Sainz finished second to the same driver to log his fourth F1 runner-up finish and second in succession at Monaco. But the Spaniard was left ruing what he said was a crucial delay after pitting from the lead on lap 21. It wasn’t caught on camera, but Sainz reckoned he was badly held up by another driver he was trying to lap as he rejoined the race. That, he claimed, was the killer to his victory hopes and Sainz couldn’t hide his disappointment. He hasn’t had an easy start to his 2022 season, but with a pair of second places so far this year it feels increasingly like his day will eventually come.

Verstappen increases his points lead

In the shadow of his team-mate, he might have been, but Verstappen leaves Monaco with a slightly larger nine-point lead over Leclerc in the standings, on a day when he probably expected to lose it all together. There won’t be many occasions when Perez gets the better of the world champion, although intriguingly the Mexican is now just 15 points behind and absolutely still in contention. So, could Perez defy expectations and give Red Bull a headache it wasn’t expecting? We’ll see as spring turns to summer.

Russell outshines Hamilton again

Outside the top four, George Russell once again proved best of the rest and kept up his remarkably strong and consistent race-day form, beating McLaren’s Lando Norris to fifth place. The latter was still in recovery from a nasty bout of tonsilitis that had struck him hard in Spain a week before, but showed further grit to deliver another points finish for his team.

Fernando Alonso frustrated Lewis Hamilton by lapping way off the pace as the Spaniard settled for seventh place. Had Hamilton qualified ahead of his old nemesis, he might have been able to give Russell a run for his money. But right now nothing is quite firing for the seven-time champion, who is cutting something of a frustrated figure. He’ll likely turn it around as Mercedes-AMG grows in competitiveness. But Russell has the upper hand in the team right now and that creates a fascinating dynamic for the rest of the season.

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.