Charles Leclerc claimed a home race victory by controlling the Monaco Grand Prix in a race dominated by tyre management.
The Ferrari driver led every lap of the race to become the first Monegasque driver to win the famous race since 1931 and take his first victory in almost two years.
Oscar Piastri finished second, with Carlos Sainz Jnr third in the second Ferrari to complete the podium. Max Verstappen finished in sixth.
The start of the race was marred by a frightening accident on the run out of Sainte Devote when Kevin Magnussen clipped Sergio Perez, sending the Red Bull spinning into the barrier and causing heavy damage to both cars, Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas and the barriers. There was a lengthy delay while the carnage was cleared, but the stewards decided that the incident did not require investigation.
Sainz had battled with Oscar Piastri for second place at the first corner and the pair clashed out of Sainte Devote. Sainz suffered a puncture and ran wide at Casino Square, falling to the back of the field, but managed to continue before the red flag. Piastri also claimed to have suffered floor damage in the clash. Later in the lap, the two Alpines of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly collided at Portier, which put the former out of the race.
Despite being down in 16th, Sainz was allowed to restart from his original third place at the restart. The top four drivers all switched under the red flag from medium tyres to hards and all held their positions at the standing restart, with Leclerc leading from Piastri, Sainz and Lando Norris in fourth.
The four leaders pulled away from George Russell in fifth, who was working on saving his medium tyres. After 50 laps of racing, sixth-placed Verstappen and seventh-placed Lewis Hamilton pitted for hard tyres after restarting on mediums, retaining their positions.
Out front, Leclerc managed his tyres throughout the race expertly, never allowing the McLaren driver an opportunity to challenge him. He crossed the line to win by seven seconds from Piastri in second, with Sainz completing the podium half a second behind, as Norris took fourth.
After Russell came under pressure from Verstappen on his newer hard tyres in the closing laps, the Mercedes driver successfully held off the world champion to claim fifth, while Hamilton finished behind in sixth. Yuki Tsunoda was eighth, with Alexander Albon taking Williams’ first points of the season in ninth and Gasly tenth.
The result sees Verstappen’s championship lead reduced to…
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