Motorsport News

Sergio Perez Defends Against Carlos Sainz, Wins Wild Monaco Race

Race winner Sergio Perez of Mexico and Oracle Red Bull Racing celebrates in parc ferme during the F1 Grand Prix of Monaco at Circuit de Monaco on May 29, 2022 in Monte-Carlo, Monaco. (Photo by Eric Alonso/Getty Images)

Red Bull’s Minister of Defense, Sergio Perez, lived up to his nickname on Sunday after holding off Carlos Sainz in the closing laps to win a shortened Grand Prix de Monaco in Formula 1.

The race, plagued by an hour-long delay due to weather and then a lengthy mid-race red flag, was only able to complete 65 laps of the scheduled 78 before the two-hour clock on the race expired.

With the rain hitting the track, there was a delayed start for the race in order to give teams the chance to change their tires. The formulation lap, which started 16 minutes after the scheduled start of the race, was behind the safety car. After two laps, the cars were called back into the pits due to the rain picking up. Around 40 minutes later, the drivers were called back on to the track and after two more laps under the safety car, a rolling start was initiated by race control.

Before the rolling start, Lance Stroll (14th) and Nicholas Latifi (15th) incurred damage to their cars by sliding into the barricade. Both were able to continue but began the race pitting and never recovered.

In the transition from wet tires to dry tires, Ferrari came down pit road and double stacked their drivers. The Red Bulls were then able to run another lap on the wet tires and were able to over-cut the Ferraris, allowing Perez to take the lead from Sainz while Max Verstappen settled in third. A frustrated Charles Leclerc had to assume fourth after starting from the pole. The top four went unchanged to the finish.

On lap 27, Mick Schumacher had an unclear issue that caused him to hit the turn 15 (right after the swimming pool chicane) wall so violently that the car split in two, Schumacher was able to walk away from the incident. Teammate Kevin Magnussen also did not finish due to a loss in water pressure.

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