The F1 bandwagon moves to one of its most treasured circuits at the Circuit de Monaco on Sunday with home hero Charles Leclerc leading the grid, looking for his first win in the principality.
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Charles Leclerc wins the Monaco GP!! First win at home for the Monegasque driver and a first win since Austria 2022. Oscar Piastri finishes second with an excellent qualifying session and race. Carlos Sainz seal a 1-3 for Ferrari.
Hasn’t been the most entertaining race in terms of overtakes. Perez’s crash in the first lap neutralized the pit stops for all the teams but it needed some excellent tyre management and strategy from the drivers in front.
Leclerc extends the lead to 8 seconds. Just a matter of bringing the car home from here.
With the laps tumbling down, the leaders are showing the true pace. Leclerc has extended the lead to five seconds.
After defending from Norris for the last few laps, Sainz has pushed on and is now within a second of Piastri in front. Verstappen continues to chase Russell for fifth.
Carlos Sainz reduces his pace to try and reduce the gap between Norris and Russell to prevent the Mclaren from taking a free piststop.
Norris right behind his gearbox, trying to pass him on track. McLaren missed the chance to pit Lando during the short window that opened up.
Hamilton dives into the pits. He goes for the hard tyre. Verstappen follows suit and manages to come out ahead of the seven-time champion. Pressure on Russell who is 15 seconds ahead on 50-lap old medium tyres.
Lance Stroll has kissed the wall and had a puncture at the entry of the swimming pool chicane. The Aston Martin driver is forced to dive into the pits again. Puts on the soft tyres this time.
Lance Stroll sets the ball rolling by coming into the pits. His speed after the tyre change will be closely watched at by other teams. McLaren one among them no doubt.
Lewis Hamilton has built up a 20-second gap to Tsunoda behind, handing him a free pitstop. Russell is currently 17 seconds behind Norris, not far away from a free stop for Norris as well.
Ferrari will be wary of what Mclaren can do with strategy if there is a change in status quo.
Mclaren radio in to Norris to inform him of the graining to Sainz’s front left tyre. Norris only has a slight abrasion according to the team.
Esteban Ocon given a 10-second penalty for his crash with teammate Gasly. Ocon has retired so will most probably need to serve a grid drop for the next race.
Leclerc extends the gap to Piastri to over 1.2 seconds. Sainz also taking it easy behind the Mclaren. Valterri Bottas in 16th with the fastest lap of the race.
The mid-field runners and the ones at the back are lapping similar times as the leaders. Gives an idea of the level of tyre management going on. The three leaders are managing to keep up the gap between them though.
Piastri sets the fastest lap of the race, diving into the 1:18s. The gap is well below 1 second now. The gap between Russell and Norris climbs up to 9 seconds.
‘No investigation necessary’ say the Stewards for the contact between Piastri and Sainz on the first lap. The Spaniard is in pursuit of Piastri but is trying to manage the tyres.
Meanwhile Russell is holding up the rest of the pack trying to protect his Medium tyres. Verstappen and his team don’t look pleased.
Charles Leclerc sets the fastest lap of the race. He has pulled up a small gap to Piastri. The Australian is under a bit of pressure from Carlos Sainz.
Clean release for all of the front runners. No incidents this time. Leclerc manages to stay in front but Piastri looks really racy behind. The top four are all on hard tyres.
Change in the predicted restart order. The FIA have decided to go back to the grid positions from the start of the race. Works out well for Sainz who will start from P3.
Restart order: Leclerc, Piastri, Sainz, Norris, Russell, Verstappen, Hamilton, Tsunoda, Albon, Gasly, Ocon, Stroll, Ricciardo, Alonso, Sargeant, Bottas, Zhou
Race to resume at 3:45 pm local time which is fifteen minutes from now.
Looks like the barriers that Perez made contact with also need replacement. Race Control says there will be a standing start at the end of the red flag period.
Sainz will be allowed to change parts on the car during this phase. But he will have to start from 16th when the race resumes as the current race order will be taken based on the timings at the end of the first sector of Lap 1.
Meanwhile the two Alpine cars made contact at Portier with Gasly hitting the back of Ocon and shoving the rear into the air. Ocon’s car has been pushed back into the garage and it looks like he won’t be able to continue.
We are underway at the Circuit de Monaco. Leclerc manages to get off to a good start. Sainz tries to pass Piastri in the first corner. Sparks coming from the underneath of the car. Sainz has a puncture!!
Session has been red flagged. Further back a big accident as Perez flies into the wall and the car is heavily damaged. Both Haas cars out in the incident. Magnussen the man at fault trying an unnecessary move on Perez. It’s going to be quite a lengthy red flag.
The cars are out for their formation lap around the streets of Monaco. No hiccups for any team so far. Verstappen, Russell and Hamilton have all put on hard tyres looking for a cheap pitstop late in the race.
The cars are firmly placed in their grid spots as the countdown to the Monaco Grand Prix begins. All eyes on Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri who start from the front of the grid.
Can Championship leader Max Verstappen do something special from sixth place on the grid?
LIVE STREAMING INFO
The F1 Monaco Grand Prix can be streamed live through the F1TV app and website. Fans from India can also tune into the action through the FanCode app and website.
Qualifiying report
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc ended Max Verstappen’s record-equalling run of Formula One pole positions in style on Saturday and made himself favourite to become the first home winner of the Monaco Grand Prix since 1931.
The pole on a sunny afternoon was Leclerc’s third in Monaco and 24th of his career, but he has yet to stand on the podium in front of his home crowd.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri will start alongside the 26-year-old on the front row after lapping 0.154 seconds slower around the harbourside street circuit.
“We need to put everything together for Sunday’s race,” said Leclerc, who can become the first Monegasque to win since Louis Chiron drove a Bugatti to victory in the early years of an event that now stands for glamour and history.
“In the past here we didn’t manage to do so, but we are in a stronger position and we are a stronger team. I’m sure we can achieve great things tomorrow and the win is the target.”
Leclerc took pole in Monaco in 2021, but did not start the race due to a driveshaft failure, and 2022 when he ended up fourth.
Red Bull’s triple world champion Verstappen, who was chasing an unprecedented ninth successive pole and eighth in a row for the season, will line up only sixth.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz qualified third, but faced an investigation for alleged impeding Williams’ Alex Albon in the opening session. The Spaniard said the priority for Sunday’s race would be to help Leclerc win, while McLaren’s Lando Norris was fourth.
Mercedes’ George Russell will share the third row with Verstappen.
Seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton secured seventh place, a disappointment after the Briton’s strong showing in practice, with RB’s Yuki Tsunoda eighth.
- Reuters
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